Issue with some Intel Processors

Maybe Spectre & Meltown are part of a plot by partners Microsoft/Intel/AMD/ARM to 'encourage' users to upgrade their hardware & software.

Thus M$ gets everyone onto Windows 10 whilst Intel and AMD get to sell you Kabylake and Rayzen hardware.

Or as one the the leaders of a large nation might put it:

"We are going to build hardware and software. We are going to take care of the bad people, it should have been handled..

..eight years ago..

...and four years ago..

....and honestly 15 years ago, and 25 years ago."

"We are going to win, believe me, nobody is going to mess with our people and you the good people are going to pay for it

because I'm smart, I am a very stable genius."

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/10/intel_allows_that_meltdown_and_spectre_may_slow_servers_down/

Bugs in all the Apple phones as well, so time to upgrade those.

This coming hot on the heels of news Apple intentionally slow down older phones because of their battery life.

Yes, that's the same topic.

 

---------- Post added 10-01-2018 at 11:44 ----------

 

 

Nowhere in the copy and paste of the legislation does it say "unfit"...

 

None of the flaws being discussed are covered by health and safety legislation. At best you could rely on consumer regulations. But I suspect that you'd get very short thrift if attempting to claim that these were not fit for purpose, as they clearly still are.

Strange, it used to, and as for 'unfit' it would appear American firmst have already started Class Action against Wintel for that very phrase. (See Mike10's link to El Reg in his most recent post.

To be correct, a link from that article to another one:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/05/intel_meltdown_cpu_flaw_sued/

I now await El Reg to be sued by Matt Groening as none of his material can be copied in any shape or form! LOL!

I was fully expecting the litigious US to start a class action suit ASAP.

I doubt there is any recourse under UK law for a bug in a processor though.

A fix has been made available, the processors still work, thus still 'fit for purpose'. I definitely can't see how H&S law would apply.

I was fully expecting the litigious US to start a class action suit ASAP.

I doubt there is any recourse under UK law for a bug in a processor though.

A fix has been made available, the processors still work, thus still 'fit for purpose'. I definitely can't see how H&S law would apply.

I suspect you only would have a claim if you had suffered harm.

Well my Win 10 updated today with the KB4056891 patch and the Asus AI suite 3 is no longer working, other than that all seems to be working as before.

I was fully expecting the litigious US to start a class action suit ASAP.

I doubt there is any recourse under UK law for a bug in a processor though.

A fix has been made available, the processors still work, thus still 'fit for purpose'. I definitely can't see how H&S law would apply.

Here is what I was looking for originally, the legal spiel from the Act itself:

"General duties of manufacturers etc. as regards articles and substances for use at

work.

6. (1) It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work

(A) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed as to be safe and without risks to health when properly used;

(B) to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of such testing and examination as may be

necessary for the performance of the duty imposed on him by the preceding paragraph;

© to take such steps as are necessary to secure that there will be available in connection with the use of the article at work adequate information about the use for which it is designed and has been tested, and about any conditions necessary to ensure that,

when put to that use, it will be safe and without risks to health.

(2) It shall be the duty of any person who undertakes the design or manufacture of any article for use at work to carry out or arrange for the carrying out of any necessary

research with a view to the discovery and, so far as is reasonably practicable,

the elimination or minimisation of any risks to health or safety to which the design or article may give rise."

It depends on how Health and Safety is interpreted; remembering that corporation is an entity and culbable of corporate manslaughter, one could also argue that the health and safety of a business is put at risk if the basis of it's 'Raison D'être' is handling and storing sensitive data, it's 'health' could be seriously affected.

In respect of the Intel Management Software, yes, there is a fix available for that via Hardware manufacturers, but it has been made quite clear via articles on El Reg is that the only truly viable solution is to throw out the defective hardware, in this case the Intel CPU's in respect of Meltdown (which AMD is not affected) - AMD and the rest IS affected by Spectre but this is down to individual Software applications and how it interacts with the CPU. Emphasis appears to have been on Web Browswers but that is not to say that any application which accesses the internet (e.g., Application Help functions such as M$ Word 'Help' makes contact with the Internet in respect of this - malevolent code could in theory create havoc with such software.

People are also forgetting about GPU's (Graphic Card Processors). There was a big article in one of the major PC publications years ago that with the advent of 1GHz GPUs there was Russian malware that could be launched using GPU hardware - there was no need to attack the CPU when the GPU was capable of being attacked. Look at the way nVidia installs itself as a 'user' on Windows for updates!

The second El Reg article I posted a link to in respect of Server Hardware is that the advice from Intel is that you can now only have one choice with regards the server - speed or security!

I'v only recently invested in Intel Processors for builds for Family members because of many people on here waxing lyrical on how 'superior' they are to AMD - well that myth has been laid to rest well and truly with this malarky. One can expect shares in AMD to move rapidly upwards. Would serve Intel right if it was to crash out completely!

I'll put a £10er down on no legal challenges based on H&S law being launched in the UK due to this issue.

Software products routinely have bugs, if microsoft could be sued under this legislation everytime a security flaw was found they'd have gone under years ago. Not to mention all the other providers of software.

It just so happens that this time the bug is hardware. But it's not a H&S risk in any way shape or form.

I'll put a £10er down on no legal challenges based on H&S law being launched in the UK due to this issue.

Software products routinely have bugs, if microsoft could be sued under this legislation everytime a security flaw was found they'd have gone under years ago. Not to mention all the other providers of software.

It just so happens that this time the bug is hardware. But it's not a H&S risk in any way shape or form.

Well I could quote stress to IT Technicians caused by poor hardware design?

In 1994, Intel had a problem with some Pentium chips related to floating-point division:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug

In 1994, Intel had a problem with some Pentium chips related to floating-point division:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_FDIV_bug

#we're in the money, we're in the money# sung DaffyDuck style by swarfendor43 :hihi:

---------- Post added 14-01-2018 at 22:02 ----------

Well it was bound to happen!:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/05/amd-is-big-winner-from-chip-flaw-fiasco.html

It will be interesting to see how Motherboard manufactures react, maybe there will be some good discounts available for boards with Intel processors.