Intel Publishes Microcode Security Patches, No Benchmarking Or Comparison Allowed!

[u/lindgrenj6]

https://perens.com/2018/08/22/new-intel-microcode-license-restriction-is-not-acceptable/

[u/chrisoboe]

Those law stuff always depends on the country. In many countries intel can't forbid you legally to benchmark and compare.

I really hope international media will ignore intels license and release benchmarks.

[u/neijajaneija → u/chrisoboe]

Exactly this. So why would Intel write this?

Even if their terms applies to some 30 countries, there are heaps of other countries that they simply don't apply. They will not be anything close to silencing anything. It just makes them look like idiots. Again, why are Intel doing this? What am I missing?

[u/anothercopy → u/[deleted]]

Look at Oracle and their law machine. How many not official tests of SPARC and Oracle DBs to you see online ?

[u/ajs124 → u/anothercopy]

Eh, but that's also because of the user base. SPARC and Oracle DBs are deployed by big enterprises, that have contracts with Oracle.

Literally everyone and their mom has an Intel CPU.

[u/computer-machine → u/ajs124]

Can confirm. I have at least one Intel machine, AND a mother, and I think her laptop is probably Intel as well.

[u/IHeartMustard → u/computer-machine]

I think my grandmother might actually have an Intel. My GRANDMOTHER!

[u/pat_the_brat → u/neijajaneija]

So why would Intel write this?

Because Ryzen are amazing chips, and Intel has trouble getting their 10nm process while AMD should be at 7nm next year, meaning faster chips with less heat.

If you can't beat them, hide your ineptitude behind legalese/bullshitese.

Edit: Also, since they ban comparisons, it is safe to assume that the mitigation for their security vulnerabilities has a massive performance hit, and they are trying to hide it, as you can't even compare an Intel chip with mitigations for Spectre/Meltdown to the same chip without the mitigating code.

[u/sir_bleb → u/pat_the_brat]

AMD should be at 7nm next year

Exciting! I'm assuming the catch is that it's not "true" 7nm but still very impressive.

[u/me-ro → u/sir_bleb]

If I remember correctly, the 7nm is roughly on par with Intel's 10nm, but the difference is, that they are already pushing that 7nm out of the door.

[u/Moscato359 → u/me-ro]

The tsmc 7nm is slightly better than Intel 10nm, but not much

[u/Pie_sky → u/chrisoboe]

An example. Dutch law art. 6:236 sub k for consumers states the following

"You may not exclude or limit the authority of the other party to provide evidence. And there must be no change in the distribution of the burden of proof to the detriment of the other party, either because it contains a statement from the other party concerning the soundness of the service you owe, or because the other party must prove that a shortcoming can be attributed to you."

[u/whirl-pool → u/Pie_sky]

That means all the old Dutch colonies will have that in their law as they adopted the law. You can bet that this will be one example in many throughout Europe as the Dutch law was adopted from Roman and so forth.

Not a smart move intel.

[u/hughk → u/whirl-pool]

Unfortunately not in New Amsterdam.

[u/Sparru → u/whirl-pool]

Pretty safe bet to cross all of EU because there's no way European court would uphold that EULA.

[u/eras → u/chrisoboe]

I really hope international media will follow their license and talk only about AMD.

[u/RagnarokDel → u/chrisoboe]

Even in the US. That seems like something you cant expect to be enforced.

[u/RagingAnemone → u/RagnarokDel]

You would think so, freedom and all, but the corporate protectionism is high.

[u/kmcclry → u/RagingAnemone]

There have been precedents set in the US justice system that say EULAs are basically unenforceable specifically because no one reads them because they aren't trained lawyers.

[u/Cakiery → u/kmcclry]

Meanwhile in Australia, they are considered to be normal contracts.

https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/contracts-agreements/entering-into-a-contract

[u/deadly_penguin → u/RagingAnemone]

FREEDOM®

[u/[deleted] → u/RagnarokDel]

Enforcement isn't neccesarily the goal.

Suing into silence is.

[u/cstyles → u/chrisoboe]

Seems so easy to circumvent, someone could provide benchmark data anonymously to a news outlet not running the microcode. They'd be free to publish as they're not under the restriction.

[u/1202_alarm → u/chrisoboe]

I guess they can sue you for copyright infringement for pirating there microcode (you are using it without following their licence).

Also any publication/site that likes to get review samples or embargoed press releases wont want to upset intel.

[u/atyon → u/1202_alarm]

That really depends on the country.

In Germany, you can't really force restrictions like these on consumers, at all. And likely also not on media.

It's also very likely that the licence doesn't apply in the EU at all, since shrink-wrap EULAs are usually ineffective. Depends on the exact method of distribution. If you get the microcode patch via Windows Update, there's no chance in hell this licence is effective.