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Sorry, @edbott No FUD or Table Pounding Here

By On January 17, 2012 · 2 Comments
No FUD3 300x125 Sorry, @edbott No FUD or Table Pounding Here

No FUD here just important discussion

I’ve been closely monitoring the buzz surrounding Secure Boot and recently Computerworld presented a Microsoft Hardware documentthat suggests Microsoft will ensure that Secure Boot mandatory on ARM hardware.

A few months back my article presenting some trouble a LoCo member was having with a laptop sparked enough controversy that not only did it hit every corner of the open source community from forums to blogs but in addition a well-known Microsoft Pundit at ZDNet decided to chime in and to some degree tried to play down concerns surrounding Secure Boot.

Now that same pundit Ed Bott is yet again trying to downplay everyone’s concerns surrounding the current issue which is any Microsoft mandate requiring Secure Boot to be enabled on ARM hardware. In his most recent article he attributes FOSS Advocates concerns to nothing more than FUD and table pounding and he says “No currently shipping version of Linux or Android will run on it.” which I assume he means a Windows ARM Tablet if one where to exist but I think he is mistaken since Ubuntu runs on many ARM tablets on the market already.

I personally think the talk of Secure Boot being mandatory on ARM hardware that Microsoft ships Windows 8 on is anti-consumer because it limits the ability of the device owner to try and modify their device. Certainly there is hardware that just wont support Linux or Android but OEM’s should not feel pressured by Microsoft to lock down their devices and eliminate the possibility for other operating systems being installed.

How do you feel about the revelation that Microsoft might block other OS’s from ARM hardware they ship Windows 8 on?

 

 

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  • alexmoldovan

    This is expected from Microsoft. I believe that ARM is VERY important. Think on tablets and all the embedded devices/appliances will have in the future. Why wouldn’t they want to control all these with secure boot? That’s why open source is VITAL to our future.

  • trentreviso

    Ed Bott is a weirdly religious Microsoft zealot. (He employs a filter on his ZDNet comments posts which disables any link to a Linux site! Links to Microsoft sites are allowed, of course.) He is just too biased to be credible. His articles are nothing but advertisements for Microsoft.

    Secure boot for Microsoft ARM devices will have very little effect on Linux, IMO. I am skeptical that Windows 8 for ARM will be available during 2012. At CES, all Windows 8 ARM devices were locked behind glass cases. Reporters were not allowed to touch them, and the demonstrators were not permitted to do anything more than to touch the screens, to prove that the devices were actually running. That tells me that Win 8 for ARM is nowhere near ready for prime time. Historically, software development times at MS have been glacially slow. We’re not going to see Win 8 ARM tablets for a while – not until long after Microsoft’s mobile ship has sailed.

    Microsoft is not likely ever to command more than a tiny percentage of the tablet marketplace. As such, very few tablets will be available which will be encumbered by Microsoft’s ARM restrictions. While Microsoft’s secure boot is yet another unfortunate attempt by that company to lock out end users from using their devices as they might choose, it will not matter in the long run. Monopoly tactics are not effective in a market where one does not enjoy a monopoly.