Windows 8 Doesn’t Play Nicely With Others

[ionut97]

ll the tech world loves a conspiracy, especially when it involves Microsoft, and a suggestion has been circulating that it was using its muscle to block its open-source competitor Linux with the launch of Windows 8.

Concerns have focused on a feature, included in the Windows 8 hardware specification, called “UEFI Secure Boot”. The idea is this checks a series of digital signatures to ensure that no malicious programs are launched after the computer is switched on. A version of Linux without the appropriate signature could not run on a computer with secure boot enabled.

Ars Technica provides a detailed explanation of the firmware’s operation and an analysis of its impact. It points out that part of the Windows 8 hardware specification is that it must allow users to install their own certificates. These could be provided by a Linux vendor. Users can also switch off secure boot or instruct the computer drop back to mimicking the current BIOS system.

This combination of options should settle most concerns that were raised when news of the secure boot requirement first broke. On x86 systems, Windows 8 stands as no impediment to using non-Windows operating systems. Indeed, Microsoft’s rules ensure that vendors will make it possible to securely boot operating systems other than Windows: system builders will have no choice but to allow system owners to install their own certificates.

But that is not the end of the story.

Windows 8 when it launches will be the first operating system from Microsoft to support ARM processors which are used in virtually all tablet computers and smartphones.

The ARM systems will all require the use of a signed operating system loader, and that operating system loader must be signed by Microsoft.

Microsoft’s rules also specify that a secure boot failure must be fatal; there must be no option to override the failure and choose to boot the untrusted operating system.

Further, manufacturers will be prohibited from shipping updates to their firmware that relax these restrictions; all firmware updates must be protected with digital signatures and must preserve the secure boot settings. They should also prevent the installation of older firmware versions—for example, downgrading the firmware to switch to a version with a known security flaw—though the manufacturer can allow this particular constraint to be manually overridden.

So an ARM-powered device will run Windows and nothing else. It is, as Ars Technica points out, far from a unique situation. The iPad and a number of other tablets are locked already.

Ars Technica concludes:

Even if Microsoft’s position doesn’t change, the impact its rules will have may prove to be negligible in practice. x86 hardware will retain all the freedom and flexibility that users of alternative operating systems need. Unlocked ARM hardware is also going to continue to be widely available; it’ll just come with Android rather than Windows.

Given Android’s much greater strength in the tablet market, it’s all but inevitable that Windows 8-only hardware will be a minority. Microsoft doesn’t have the market dominance to take away everyone’s ability to use alternative operating systems.

If every future PC and tablet were restricted so that it could only boot a Microsoft operating system, there would indeed be the end of the world as we know it; it would fundamentally alter the nature of the PC, converting it from the supremely flexible device that it is into a well-decorated prison cell.

As it is, it will simply be a choice that buyers have to make for themselves. There will be options that are locked down, including the iPad and Windows 8 ARM tablets. There will be options that are not. The decision as to which is more important—freedom or reliability—will lie with the user.

Foarte interesant cum incearca Microsoft sa inlature orice alt sistem de operare facandu-le sa nu poate fi compatibile hardware,astfel singura alternativa fiind Windows 8.

Ce credeti de asta?

Source:http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2012/01/17/windows-8-doesnt-play-nicely-with-others/

Edited January 19, 2012 by ionut97

[wildchild]

"S?-i pi? în frez?!"

[actunderdc]

Asta dovedeste clar ca intr-o lupta cinstita cu linux simt ca vor pierde. Si recurg la astfel de manevre. Prin astfel de politici , parerea mea, vor avea mai mult de pierdut decat de castigat. Nu toti producatorii de hardware vor avea contract cu microsoft. Ceva in genul asta este si la laptopuri acum: unele vin cu windows preinstalat, dar in banii cheltuiti pe laptop 2-3 milioane se duc la microsoft pentru licenta.

Bullshit. Fuck Microsoft and SOPA

Niste ahtiati dupa bani.