Has anybody thought of UEFI Secure Boot (MS)? Or am I maybe a little early with this?
(Headline or 'topic-line' does not work? 'UEFI' as topic-header would be right.)
You do mean with Windows 8? I get a tech newsletter that said you will have option to disable........
That would be great, but I don't believe it will always be the case. It is the OEM, the hardware-producer who will decide that I think. And why would they do something for Linux when a great deal of users have Windows?
UEFI is OEM. It is also another way of booting (also partition-likewise).
Secure Boot is the certification-part of the story. Garret of Red Hat for instance has been red of angryness en sorrow about this.
MS demands it 'on' when shipping.
In some machines it will be switchable, but not in all cases. MS is 90% of the market. Why would an OEM make it switchable?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/26/uefi_linux_lock_out_row_latest/
http://addon.100searchengines.com/texis/open/search?q=uefi+garret+red+hat
Etcetera.
The FSF:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/free-software-foundation-petitions-against-wi
Yes...
quote
" There's no indication that Microsoft will prevent vendors from providing firmware support for disabling this feature and running unsigned code. However, experience indicates that many firmware vendors and OEMs are interested in providing only the minimum of firmware functionality required for their market. It's almost certainly the case that some systems will ship with the option of disabling this. Equally, it's almost certainly the case that some systems won't.
It's probably not worth panicking yet. But it is worth being concerned. "
end-quote
I'm not very comfortable with it.
Sigh of relieve. But... UEFI will not make life easier I suspect.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFIBooting
And: 'Secure Boot' of Microsoft® is not the same as UEFI. They could demand certificates or keys when one dualboots Windows and Linux. No problem for me I'm happy to say, for 8 years I don't use Windows now.
Thanks for the link Leenie!
Let's wait and see. :big smile:
biff baxter said:
I always laugh about these security "control" mechanisms as they are usually circumvented within 24 hours. The Linux community is to big, and the sum of all those brains far outnumber the folks coming up with these things. :) I am not worried at all.
I hope you are right. More people write this on the web. But this is hard- and software and not very simple.
It also concernes 'third party' drivers, usb, dvd etc.
What I know is that Suse (Novell) would have the certification-keys and -variables and maybe this would be a way to get them for Linux. But I'm not an expert in this field.
In the meantime:
MS could argue that they want it for the best intentions i.e. to produce safe systems and let's face it their track record in this respect is dire. However I see that it has potential to lock-out other OS's, like Linux, or indeed older MS OS's. If it can be seen as being anti-competitive then the European Commission will come down on them like a ton of bricks, (as they have done before).
John Smith wrote:
If it can be seen as being anti-competitive
Right. But can it, because of hardware-makers, who deliver a facillity which will by accident be used by MS.
And switchable or not? Why would they with 90% MS users?
Maybe it is no big deal. I hope the FSF does a great job. And also the Australians. Europe is a little weak at the moment.
But it is good to be aware...! MS is a rather clever business. Maybe you like to call it sneaky.
Great, that's why it has to be known and that's why it has to be talked about in my opinion. All over the world. :wink:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/09/will-the-accc-block-win8-secure-boot/
Quote: Microsoft has little to no foothold in the world of ARM. We’re talking handsets and tablets. Both of those bits of technology rest securely in the hands of Apple and Android. But we know how Microsoft feels about competition. They want (and understandably so) to get their hands into that pie. End-quote.
Yes...
Dirty hands.
Linux has to go OUT after some years if they get it their way. They have said it themselves, some two years back: MS: "Linux has come to the end of their live-cycle" (or something like it). I think it is forbidden by law to do it like this, but they have a lot of corruption-money. So... Let's fight it.
That's a great developement, Leenie!
I hope it will stay that way with those Linux-installed and free PC's..
In the meantime Android: around 50% marketshare on handhelds.
I think MS is pointing in that direction with this attack. And as a side-effect desktop Linux and possibly others could suffer too.
I think it is not possible by law, but M$ has a lot of resources and you never know what they can...