[Cialug] Restricted boot a very real possibility

[Matthew Nuzum]

On Tue, Oct 18, 2011 at 2:32 PM, Jeffrey Ollie <jeff at ocjtech.us> wrote:

> Yes, Microsoft is being very intelligent here.  By requiring that
> Windows 8 be bootable, but not requiring a toggle to turn secure boot
> off they will effectively freeze out everyone else.   OEMs are cheap
> and they won't go to a lot of trouble to please the open source crowd.
>  Microsoft comes off sounding like the good guy here but in reality
> they know that OEMs will try and get away with the minimum necessary
> changes to keep running Windows, thereby shutting out non-Windows
> operating system.
>

I agree with every point you mentioned, and can even one-up by saying that
most Unix systems generate init files on the actual machine, so it would be
very hard to sign.

The one thing we have going for us is that the Asian markets are huge and
very cost sensitive. In India and China machines have to ship with a
graphical OS and many don't ship with Windows. Therefore companies targeting
these markets will likely have a toggle in the bios, probably with it off by
default.

My biggest concern is the low-cost consumer systems sold in 1st world
countries. I've noticed that the machines at Best Buy typically have fewer
BIOS options. I could easily see that one being left out.

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin and twitter

♫ You're never fully dressed without a smile! ♫
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