[ubuntu-uk] efi boot, Windows 8 and Linux

[Simon Greenwood]

On 22 September 2011 00:06, Alan Bell <alan.bell at libertus.co.uk> wrote:

> On 21/09/11 23:29, Bea Groves wrote:
>
>> Just read the following. Comments?
>>
>>  yeah, it is potentially very nasty.
> To be Windows 8 certified computers will have to be able to do this secure
> boot thing. Most will include an option to turn it off, exactly like the
> google chromebooks do, they have a switch to turn off the code signing
> requirement so you can run unsigned operating systems. The OLPC also has
> this exact same feature, but you can get a dev key and turn it off.
> The problem is that some manufacturers might start not bothering to include
> an off switch. So that would creep in as a set of machines (probably quite
> mainstream high volume ones) that won't run anything but the pre-installed
> Windows 8 or above.
> The big problem is that Windows 9 might *require* secure boot to run. This
> means it won't run on older machines (driving hardware sales, the industry
> likes that) and means that more manufacturers will fail to include an off
> switch for the secure boot. If the market doesn't punish them by people
> avoiding these pre-bricked computers then they will keep doing it. Microsoft
> will carefully not require OEMs to fail to include an off switch, because
> that would be anti-competitive. Virtualbox and VMware and so on can include
> the public keys and provide a secure boot environment, or run unsigned code
> for developing drivers and running Linux, but you won't be running Linux on
> the hardware, only virtualised. It is kind of like the current trend for
> using up 4 primary partitions and not creating extended partitions to make
> dual booting harder, but this one you potentially can't get round. I can see
> a time when you have to get a laptop chipped to run Linux like you would a
> DVD player to do multi region.
>
>
There are current factors that may give hope: for the one the major
component makers such as Samsung and LG are proving to be less OS bound than
previously, certainly in the mobile phone sector: all the Korean companies
produce both Android and Windows phones as well as making their own OSes
such as Samsung's Bada, so may be less willing to bind themselves to Windows
for their PCs, perhaps more so if the X86 Android port is successful,
becomes official and remains free.

On the other hand, the success of the iPad and other tablets has blurred the
distinction between PC and phone and the tablet-type device may supersede
the PC more in the coming years, something which Microsoft have seen and
responded to by finally porting Windows to ARM, something which Unity is
intended also to address. The traditional PC may end up playing a smaller
role in the hardware ecosystem than it has previously.

As Alan says, in the short term though, Linux will have to adapt to EFI
(Macs have had this since the switch to x86 and you can run Linux on them
with few problems) but if the time comes that signing becomes necessary, the
growth of Linux may be such that it can't be ignored as an alternative
desktop and that there will a key pair or pairs available.

s/
-- 
Twitter: @sfgreenwood
"Is this your sanderling?"
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-uk/attachments/20110922/1611655a/attachment.html>