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

[Paul Sutton]

On 22/09/11 09:42, Simon Greenwood wrote:
>
>
> On 22 September 2011 00:06, Alan Bell <alan.bell at libertus.co.uk 
> <mailto: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?"
>
We would have to do a lot of awareness raising and support things like 
install days to get round things like this.   as the borg say "we will 
adapt"

paul

-- 
Paul Sutton Cert SLPS (Open)
http://www.zleap.net


17th September 2011 - Software freedom day


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