The company told ComputerWire it hopes to release samples of code for its Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB) technology, formerly Palladium, in a Software Development Kit (SDK) in October.

The SDK would be available at Microsoft’s annual Professional Developers’ Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles.

Microsoft is pressing ahead with its plans despite concerns from numerous groups and experts over the implications of NGSCB on individuals’ right to privacy and the degree of control it gives Microsoft over content created and distributed on Windows.

NGSCB uses a hardware-based architecture to encrypt and de-crypt documents, digital content and web services running in Windows-based PCs. The company is working with Intel Corp and AMD Inc on the chip-based system, along with what it claims are dozens of other vendors on the hardware component.

Mario Juarez, product manager for Microsoft’s Windows trusted platform technologies group, claimed yesterday the company had already met with European agencies and individuals to address early concerns. These include European Union officials, fair trade bodies and academics specializing in the realm of privacy.

He said, though, Microsoft had not had an opportunity to meet computing and privacy expert Dr Ross Anderson of the UK’s University of Cambridge Computing Laboratory, a notable NGSCB critic.

Juarez said Microsoft has now entered a phase of talking to potential early adopters in business and government, taking feedback on NGSCB. He added Microsoft may also establish a customer advisory panel, but said this is still at a talking stage.

Juarez called a lot of Microsoft’s NGSCB work to-date super deep operating system guru stuff saying feedback is important, as the company cannot develop the technology in a vacuum. We are beginning to visit our architecture tenants to get confirmation we are doing the right things, Juarez said.

Launch of an SDK at PDC would be an important step for Microsoft in getting NGSCB into hands of Windows developers. PDC is the largest developer event in Microsoft’s calendar and the event where company chief software architect Bill Gates unveiled .NET in July 2000 in Orlando, Florida.

Microsoft will next month target developers who focus on hardware drivers for Windows at its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in New Orleans, Louisiana. WinHEC developers will receive 15 hours of technical presentations on NGSCB tackling architecture, interfaces and specifications. Hardware demonstrations are also planned.

Despite this years’ rallying of developers, Microsoft is no closer to making a public announcement on when a Windows operating system will support NGSCB. The earliest possible candidate is Longhorn.

Juarez said NGSCB would appear in a future version of Windows adding Longhorn is a moving target. No official date has yet been given for Longhorn, although reports suggest 2005.

Source:Computerwire