I’ve seen many instances of some software having DRM that significantly degrades the performance of the software, or worse, the performance of the entire OS due to heavy background tasks. Prime examples include Denuvo and all those Adobe background processes. Why can’t they just simply use the TPM or the other 5 security chips embedded into the CPU so that they don’t bloat the system?
So what even is the purpose of Pluton if it’s useless for its main use case?
I will admit I had to look up what Pluton is, but I think Microsoft did a decent job of explaining it by themselves:
In other words, Pluton is an enhanced TPM that’s baked directly into newer CPUs, for code integrity of Microsoft’s software. Here, integrity means the software was not tampered with, and will do exactly what Microsoft wanted it to do. That no guarantee that their software won’t spy on you or expose your data (see Microsoft Recall controversy), though.
Now, Microsoft can extend that integrity guarantee by blessing other software makers’s code. That is one of many avenues to use Pluton as DRM and/or anti-cheat, if game makers obtain the necessary blessing.
But this is still years away from fully rolling out, and it necessitates that everyone buys a CPU which has Pluton enabled. I personally wouldn’t want to pay money for something that historically would have given me full control. Game consoles have always been locked down, but I draw a line at PCs. Everyone will have to decide what they’re comfortable with, as we enter this brave new world.
Unfortunately pretty much everything has Pluton these days, including all non-Dell/non-Lenovo Ryzen 6000+ or Intel 13th? Gen laptops and all Copilot+ PCs. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pluton was required to run Windows 12.