Windows 8 Spells Trouble for Linux, Hackintosh Users and Malware Victims

[Michael Butash]

Same deal as "secure" bootloaders on android phones that have been all 
the rage with vendors the past few years - it'll only boot a signed 
*approved* kernel.  I don't see how oem's will cope with this, unless 
they "pre-load" a cert from any/all vendors, lock the cert store with 
their own means, and everyone else is then screwed.  RH more or less 
enforces *their* kernels now, so they'll be happy, but I doubt any other 
linux vendor like Canonical will be.  Obviously the consumers, 
especially those that like to roll their own kernels, will not.

This was done in cell space largely at the request of the cellco's to 
*control* their hardware against esn manipulation and to sell them as 
platforms for the media cartels to hock music on (drm).  Since drm has 
all but become a 4-letter word of late, they've started shipping with 
unlocked bootloaders, or have implemented ways to unlock them remotely 
at the cost of voiding warranties (win/win for them).  It will be 
interesting to see how the oem's like dell, hp, and cisco that sell a 
lot of servers where windoze server is often NOT a default option anymore...

-mb


On 09/28/2011 10:03 AM, Tom Ostlund wrote:
> This has the smell of proprietary hardware all over it again....
>
> I would agree that they would turn it off or flash the thing either way
> many tech support jobs just got job security :-)
>
>
>
> On 09/28/2011 09:58 AM, Eric Shubert wrote:
>> http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/09/windows-8-spells-trouble-for-l.php
>>
>>
>>
>> I would think that users could simply turn off secure booting in the EFI
>> (bios) in order to run whatever they like (except perhaps Win8). No?
>>
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