[Ubuntu-be] Win8 will block dual-boot?

[Pierre Buyle]

Lets not flame Microsoft and spread FUD. They might do it but if we,
as members of the FOSS community, want to keep up with our higher
standards, we must stay reasonable and avoid cheap amalgams and
over-simplification.

It doesn't seems that Microsoft disallow the installation or booing of
non-MS OSes, or even only Linux-based ones, on a Windows 8 machines.
What seems to be the case, is that Windows 8 might require a security
measure on these machine that may be practically incompatible with
Linux and FOSS in general. I didn't dig the details, but the idea is
that any software involved in the boot process will have to be
digitally signed by a trusted Certification Authority (CA). Some
distributions may be able to provides signed binaries in their
package, but if the user cannot be its own trusted CA, then it will be
impossible for a home-compiled software to be involved in the boot
process unless a workaround (or "hack") allow it to bypass this
security measure.

See http://boingboing.net/2011/09/21/anti-malware-hardware-has-the-potential-to-make-it-illegal-and-impossible-to-choose-to-run-linux.html

Regards,

PS: Note that the trust in "trusted CA" doesn't apply to who or what
the user trust, but rather who the software and hardware vendors chose
to trust to protect their very own interests.
PPS: Mandatory link when speaking of security measures misleadingly
branded as "Trusted Computing": http://www.lafkon.net/tc/

--
Pierre "mongolito404" Buyle