Saqib Ali wrote: > My thoughts: > I highly doubt that BitLocker will ever be widely implemented > anywhere. It will be like EFS which even Microsoft's security group > doesn't use (they use Winzip AES). Here are my reasons for the above > statement:
Didn't get around to responding until just now, and who knows if it matters, but I think I disagree with you. BitLocker has potential beyond EFS. > 1) BitLocker is only supported on Windows Vista Ultimate. Ultimate > edition is pricey and will not be used by most businesses. Not true. BitLocker requires you to buy Vista Enterprise Edition. This is only available if you buy Vista with Software Assurance, but this is not Vista Ultimate. Enterprise Ed has one other big component for enterprises, and that's the language pack stuff. You'll be able to have one global image that allows the choice of OS language through a simple setting. The language pack is what is most appealing to us. We're considering VistaEE for this reason. Bitlocker would be a nice perk. And if we have VistaEE, Bitlocker will likely become our file encryption of choice. I don't think you'll see enterprises upgrading to VistaEE just for Bitlocker, but if they upgrade to VistaEE for other reasons, I'm having a hard time understanding why they wouldn't use Bitlocker. > 2) Vista requires latest and greatest hardware, which is not the case > at most of the shops. You're assuming an overnight switch. Our Vista rollout will coincide with our lease cycle. As old systems go off lease, they'll be replaced with a new system that will run Vista without a problem (Aeroglass isn't something that we need, so the video card requirements are moot). > 3) There exists plethora of alternative, which are cheap, support > multiple platforms/OS and works well with the existing older hardware. But if its included, why buy something else? > 4) New computers will start shipping with Seagate's Momentus FDE.2 HDD > which has a hardware chip that performs the encryption, thus relieving > the CPU. > http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/momentus/momentus_5400_fde.2/ Upgrading to VistaEE is far cheaper than swapping out hard drives. The labor alone for the HDD swap (backup/image, restore) would pay for VistaEE. Until Dell/HP/IBM ship with those HDDs built in at only a small premium, the software option will be king. Mike _______________________________________________ FDE mailing list [email protected] http://www.xml-dev.com/mailman/listinfo/fde
