Microsoft's Secure Boot Gambit

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1. Windows Secure Boot

Red Hat Engineer Matthew Garrett sounded the alarm bell this past week about Microsoft's plans for Windows 8. The upcoming Windows operating system will use the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) secure boot protocol in an effort to make Windows 8 more secure.

UEFI secure boot will require Windows 8 certified hardware vendors to digitally sign their hardware with keys to ensure that only signed applications can boot. That's a move Garret warned could severely impact the Linux ecosystem. Linux users might not be able to install or boot Linux on hardware that has been Windows 8 certified.

For the lay man , what does this mean ?

It means that if you want to run Windows 8 or higher on your computer, your computer must be built to run windows only , no other operating system will be permitted.

For most users, this really seems pretty harmless. Most users don't even know what an operating system is , let alone that there are many kinds, not just windows. But there is a hidden cost to this decision , that will hit them in the pocket book.


For technicians who know what they're doing , it means you will no longer be able to take a second hand machine and load it up with Linux. It will be locked to windows only. This is obviously intended to kill the Linux operating system , which is currently competing with Windows in many fields (databases, word processers etc) .

The part where you're locking out the competition is the part I was talking about for hidden costs. Now they can raise the prices and there's not much you can do because they have a monopoly.

However, I believe this will fail on several counts.

First you are enforcing a monopoly. You're not permitting people to put whatever operating system or software they like on their property. Thats not going to survive. Whatever copyright law that exists that enforces that is going to get altered after storm of public outcry.

That would be like saying you can only buy gas for your car at a special gas station , and no where else. And by the way the prices at the special gas station are triple that of anywhere else. Just because they can.

Second , you can't sue someone without actually being harmed by them. If I break the encryption on your hardware and put linux on my computer , I already paid for windows long long ago , you havn't been harmed by this action, you cannot sue.

This runs into problems with recent copy right legislation whereby breaking any digital lock , no matter how weak , is a crime. But I can see and end run around it (you broke the lock on your own door ? Who cares ? )

Again , a public outcry and you can bet any copy right legislation is going to be altered to allow you to do whatever you like with property you bought and paid for.

Third, microsoft already has one failed operating system. Vista. Flew like a lead brick. People wanted nothing to do with it, they wanted their XP machines, they just left it to die. People didn't want the new operating system and the limits it imposed under any circumstances. Sales dropped through the floor, and microsoft , starved for cash , had to relent.

They are risking the same fate with Windows 8 .

There is an upside to all of this.

More and more people are hearing the word Linux, and asking a few questions here and there. At least they know it exists now , instead of the strange attitude that all computers are windows computers.

An attitude they will lose when the price skyrockets.