Skype Features Intel Only Code — AMD Gains Ammo

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In the latest version of Skype, a product of eBay Inc – users found 10-way conference calls, but only if Intel hardware was used. AMD users were treated with just a 5-way option. Both Skype and Intel claimed that this was due to new, superior Intel marchitecture. Sound a bit odd? Turns out that this isn’t the case at all.

Maxxuss, a well known enthusiast from the sphere of MacOSX86 project, took a look at Skype finding the marketing code and enabled 10-way conference using other processors. The “protection” was actually a string in code that checks for “GenuineIntel” string inside the CPU. If the La Intella is detected, 10-way works. If string returns something else, like “AuthenticAMD”, boom! Only 5-way. What an interesting case for the ongoing AMD vs Intel lawsuit…

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