Hmmmm... Any reason we can't do an open-source implementation of the same and post the results online? A grass-roots "track everybody"? Then the government would have to live by the same rules as everyone else.

Note: I'm proposing this mostly tongue-in-cheek, so don't get all uppity.

I need a way to subvert this whole scheme so new machines I purchase would only have keys for OSS software, preventing Windows malware from booting. Now that would be worth pushing the H/W vendors for!

Follow the "project is going ahead" and then the "Further reading: What if Babbage...?" article. Early on they say, "Suppose the IBM PC had used a Motorola chip?"

I used to work with an engineer who, earlier, was at Motorola on the 6809 project. One day some suits came in to talk to his boss asking whether Motorola could adapt the 6809 processor to 16-bits. The ultimate response after checking with an engineer or two was: "no". Those suits were from IBM...

The 68000 must not have been out yet? Perhaps didn't meet some other IBM requirements? I remember being enthralled with the 68000 in late 1980 or early 1981, collecting manuals and data sheets for it at the time, so it must have been too late to the party to make it into the initial IBM PC design phase. I've asked the Motorola vs. Intel question myself many times, and happened to ask it out loud once around this engineer, who started into his story. I heard the same story more than once during the years we worked together so I suspect the story is true. Man, it sure would have been nice had things turned out differently!