Thursday, 23 February 2012
Windows 8 Secure Boot raises ire over device lock
Windows 8 Secure Boot raises ire over device lock
By Katherine Noyes, PC World (US) | Jan 20, 2012
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PrintMicrosoft's Secure Boot plans for Windows 8 stirred up quite a hornet's nest of controversy in the Linux world last fall, and recently that debate has started up again.
Part of the controversy this time around stems from the revelation that the Microsoft's requirements for ARM-based Windows 8 devices include a mandatory Secure Boot feature, effectively locking down such devices and preventing them from booting non-Windows OSes.
Linux users have long been able to install the free and open source operating system on PCs that ship with Windows, but that apparently won't be true with Windows 8 ARM hardware.
"Disabling Secure [Boot] MUST NOT be possible on ARM systems," reads page 116 of the company's Windows Hardware Certification Requirements document, as noted recently by Computerworld UK blogger Glyn Moody.
"Microsoft confirms UEFI fears, locks down ARM devices" was the title of the ensuing blog post from the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC).
So that's one bit of bad news for Linux users. On the PC side, however, things are more complicated.
For non-ARM devices, Microsoft's Certification Requirements define a "custom" Secure Boot mode that seems to allow for the installation of Linux. "On non-ARM systems, the platform MUST implement the ability for a physically present user to select between two Secure Boot modes in firmware setup: 'Custom' and 'Standard'," the Microsoft document specifies. "Custom Mode allows for more flexibility."
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