<html><head><style> body {height: 100%; color:#000000; font-size:12pt; font-family:Arial;}</style></head><body>I plan to get a new laptop soon, and I'm looking for advice re window 8's UEFI. The laptop I am interested in has not yet been extensively reviewed (especially concerning compatibility with (x)ubuntu); normally I would wait until I read more about it. But window 8 will come out at the end of October and I don't know when OEM will start putting window 8 image on new orders. I am aware that ubuntu has made a deal with the devil, I mean microsoft, to allow ubuntu to be installed on OEM window 8 machines. (1) I assume the same holds for xubuntu? (2) I have not yet decided if I would input 12.04 or 12.10 on the laptop. If I do end up getting a machine with UEFI lock, does that mean I cannot install 12.04? And if I get the laptop now (and hence comes with window 7), can I install 12.10 (or later image) later on? Put it in another way, how would the installation process (I use xubuntu CD) recognizes if the laptop has UEFI or not? (3) I plan to keep my laptop for a number years -- well past the support timeframe for xubuntu 12.04 -- what is xubuntu's future plan for UEFI? I of course realize that nobody has a definitively answer to (3); I'm just cursious as to what directions/ideas the xubuntu team might have. I absolutely do need concrete advice about the timing of my laptop purchase; for reasons I won't get into, I need to either get it in a month or wait until November... Many thanks! p.s. I am aware that there are vendors that sell laptops with open source boot loader, but for reasons I won't get into I cannot take advantage of that :-(</body></html>