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Old 21st September 2011
J65nko J65nko is offline
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Default Windows 8 secure boot would 'exclude' Linux and BSD*

From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09...clusion_fears/

Quote:
Microsoft wants firmware to only start authorised OSes

Computer scientists warn that proposed changes in firmware specifications may make it impossible to run “unauthorised” operating systems such as Linux and FreeBSD on PCs.

Proposed changes to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware specifications would mean PCs would only boot from a digitally signed image derived from a keychain rooted in keys built into the PC. Microsoft is pushing to make this mandatory in a move that could not be overridden by users and would effectively exclude alternative operating systems, according to Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University and other observers.
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Old 22nd September 2011
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Oko Oko is offline
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Closed hardware is not a new concept. Microsoft owns its own success to i386 being open hardware and cheaper, even though of inferior quality, than any of machines ever produced by Digital, SGI, Sun, or HP(Risk) just to mention few. Historically, the closed hardware with exception of Apple (which was alway semi-open and running well open source stuff) was one way ticket to demise. I am sure that there would be vendors which will seize the opportunity and open their hardware. Personally, I am looking forward to my new ARM based notebook.

Oko

P.S. How is above decision different from the decision of Linux team to make Gnome Linux only or to keep braking X window system to please Linux camp?

Last edited by Oko; 22nd September 2011 at 12:51 AM.
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Old 22nd September 2011
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jggimi jggimi is offline
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I am sure that workstation vendors who wish to support customers who run alternative OSes (even Win 7 or XP -- in use in the vast majority of large enterprises) will provide a hardware switch like the Chromebooks, or some other method of disablement.

Either that, or they will elect to exclude themselves from Microsoft's Win 8 branding program and this mandate for the bulk of their products.

It is doubtful they will want to prevent their corporate customers from running earlier versions of Windows.
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Old 23rd September 2011
J65nko J65nko is offline
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From http://h-online.com/-1349170

Quote:
Microsoft responds to secure boot accusations - Update

Recent suggestions that Microsoft is attempting to lock out Linux through the use of secure boot in Windows 8 have been refuted by Steven Sinofsky, president of the company's Windows and Windows Live division. In a Building Windows 8 blog posting introduced by Sinofsky, he diplomatically refers to "some comments about how Microsoft implemented secure boot" and how "unfortunately these seemed to synthesize scenarios that are not the case".

The posting continues with an explanation, from Microsoft program manager Tony Mangefeste, of the mechanisms used and the purposes of those mechanisms as they are used in Windows 8. "Most customers will have their systems protected against boot loader attacks", says Mangefeste but "For the enthusiast who wants to run older operating systems, the option is there to allow you to make that decision". He points out that the Samsung tablet distributed at the //BUILD/ conference with Windows 8's Developer Preview allows for secure boot to be easily disabled. "At the end of the day, the customer is in control of their PC. Microsoft’s philosophy is to provide customers with the best experience first, and allow them to make decisions themselves".
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Old 23rd September 2011
BSDfan666 BSDfan666 is offline
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IMHO, that sounds like nonsense, there is absolutely no benefit to this other than vendor lock in.
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Old 24th September 2011
drhowarddrfine drhowarddrfine is offline
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It's been brought up elsewhere questioning the legality of this. Anti-trust authorities may question a monopoly requiring vendor lockout of competing products. In fact, they SHOULD question it.

Before anyone says Apple does the same thing, they don't. (I believe you can install other OSes on Apple computers but...) Apple only limits its own computers while Microsoft tries to restrict all hardware vendors to Microsoft products. "I won't sell to you if you aren't exclusive to me," has always been a determination of illegal monopolistic behavior and is what got Microsoft in so much trouble over the past decade and more.
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Old 24th September 2011
Brainfsck Brainfsck is offline
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It seems that Microsoft does not mandate this feature to be mandatory, but the opposite is not the cas either: http://www.h-online.com/open/news/it...e-1349170.html

So we're possibly screwed anyway, because it depends on the hardware vendors, and I'm not inclined to trust any of them
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