Come on people, please do a little research before spreading FUD... This is an OPTION in the BIOS, one that can be TURNED OFF.Any systems manufacturer that disallowed the ability to turn it off would be committing commercial suicide imnsho...
Yes, there is some *potential* for this becoming a problem in the dustant future, but not in the next 5 or 10 years...
On 2011-10-19 12:43 PM, Scott Castaline <skotchman@gmail.com> wrote:
On 10/19/2011 12:11 PM, Ian Lynch wrote:On 19 October 2011 16:59, webmaster for Kracked Press Productions< webmaster@krackedpress.com> wrote:Please read the linked article. [below] If Microsoft gets away with this, then no computer that has a Windows 8 logo on it will not be able to boot from free OSs like Linux. This will be part of the BIOS. You might not be able to run free software like LibreOffice, if it goes to the extreme end.I should think that is illegal under competition law. To me, if MS get away with forcing OEMs to make it so their systems cannotrun Linux, then it is another anti-trust violation for MS. Billy boy is going back to court about unfair practices from the 90's, so if people do not step up now to convince OEMs that we will not buy their products if they implement the free OS and software blocker at the BOOT LEVEL, then we cannot buy any new computers for Linux.We can buy new computers, just not those that come with Windows. Might even be an advantage since there will be a niche market in supplying hardware that is not restricted in that way. I might start a new business :-) http://www.zdnet.com/blog/**open-source/free-software-**Above link is broken, but the problem is that, how many OEM's will deem it profitable to manufacture 2 different versions of their systems. That also eliminates dual booting M$ and OpenSource OSes on the same PC. This will also impact the MoBos manufacturers as they already make 2 versions of their product to support Intel and AMD now it'll have to be 4 versions. I don't think that'll happen. It's more likely, if M$ gets their way, one will have to some how hack the boards which will more than likely nullify any warranties which will then send OpenSource back to just hobbyists and such and non acceptance by others.foundation-urges-oems-to-say-**no-to-mandatory-windows-8-** uefi-cage/9770?alertspromo=&**tag=nl.rSINGLE<http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/free-software-foundation-urges-oems-to-say-no-to-mandatory-windows-8-uefi-cage/9770?alertspromo=&tag=nl.rSINGLE>< http://www.zdnet.com/blog/**open-source/free-software-** foundation-urges-oems-to-say-**no-to-mandatory-windows-8-** uefi-cage/9770?alertspromo=&**tag=nl.rSINGLE<http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/free-software-foundation-urges-oems-to-say-no-to-mandatory-windows-8-uefi-cage/9770?alertspromo=&tag=nl.rSINGLE> Free Software Foundation urges OEMs to say no to mandatory Windows 8 UEFI cage By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols | October 18, 2011, 1:26pm PDT Summary: The Free Software Foundation is asking OEMs to give users a choice on Microsoft anti-Linux Windows 8's United Extensive Firmware security "feature." -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to marketing+help@global.** libreoffice.org<marketing%2Bhelp@global.libreoffice.org> Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/**get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-** unsubscribe/<http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.**documentfoundation.org/** Netiquette<http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette> List archive: http://listarchives.**libreoffice.org/global/**marketing/<http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/marketing/> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
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