[Lancaster] windows 8 and uefi

[Ken Hough]

Andy, et al,

Thanks to Linux Format Magazine, and Micromart magazine, I was well aware that 
Microsoft are hoping to block non MS OSes from running on new PCs.this, 

I really can't see the EU and other governmental/legal bodies letting 
Microsoft get away with doing this. They have already been pulled up and fined 
for trying to force everyone to use Internet Explorer, which by comparison was 
a minor matter. Open source/Linux is now being used by corporate/government 
bodies throughout Europe (UK is lagging behind in this respect)

Even Microsoft must know that there would be an almighty stink generated if 
they were to try to block PCs in this way. Probably more of the usual 
Microsoft generated FUD!

WRT Windows 8: I can't remember exactly where I saw it, but I did read a 
review of the pre-release version of Windows 8. Suffice it so say that the 
review was not very enthusiastic, particularly wrt the new desktop. The 
general conclusion was not to bother with it!

Microsoft seem to be trying to play catchup in the world of mobile phones and 
touch pads and some of the new features in Windows 8 appear to be aimed at 
that market.

I found it amusing that some of the new "features" that were being trumpeted 
have been available under Linux for years. For example, under Windows 8, it 
will be possible to mount an ISO file to run as an additional hard drive. Wow!

I was under the impression that we have been able to do something similar for 
years via the 'mount' command.

My existing main desktop PC (Intel Core 2 Quad 8200 with 4GB Ram on a ASUS PQ5 
SE2 mobo) continues to run 64 bit Debian 6 very well indeed! I'm not into 
serious gaming, so hopefully this will continue for some years to come.

By this time, and with a bit of luck, Microsoft will have shot themselves in 
the foot so often that they will have lost all credibility.

Regards

Ken Hough

On Monday 11 June 2012 01:38:51 andy baxter wrote:
> HI,
> 
> Just letting people know, in case you haven't seen it already, about a
> move by Microsoft to require that all PCs certified to run Windows 8
> will be designed in a way that they cannot run any other OS unless the
> developers have bought an encryption key signed by Microsoft.
> 
> This is obviously a pretty severe threat to the future of linux, and of
> people's right to decide for themselves what they want to run on their
> computers. Even if linux developers compromise by buying a key from
> Microsoft, as Red Hat have done for example, this still leaves MS as the
> gatekeeper of general purpose computing devices, in a way which is
> hardly healthy for the future of the computer world. (I would have
> thought).
> 
> If any of you are thinking of buying a new computer to run Linux, now
> might be a good time to do so, as the release date for Windows 8 is
> likely to be later this year. It would be a good idea to check
> specifically that the machine /isn't/ certified for windows 8.
> 
> There's a good background on the subject here:
> http://fsfe.org/campaigns/generalpurposecomputing/secure-boot-analysis.en.h
> tml
> 
> The wikipedia page:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface
> 
> Linus Torvald's reaction (which seems pretty lame to me):
> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/linus-torvalds-on-windows-8-uefi-and-
> fedora/11187
> 
> An article on Linux for you:
> http://www.linuxforu.com/2012/02/uefi-should-linux-users-be-worried/
> 
> cheers,
> 
> andy
> 
> 
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