[$] Thoughts on software-defined silicon

People are attracted to free software for a number of reasons, includingprice, overall quality, community support, and available features. But,for many of us, the value of free software is to be found in its ability to allow us toactually own and maintain control over our systems. Antifeatures in freesoftware tend not to last long, and free drivers can often unlock capabilities of thehardware that its vendors may not have seen fit to make available. Intel'supcoming "software defined silicon" (SDSi) mechanism may reduce that control,though, by taking away access to hardware features from anybody who has notpaid the requisite fees.