Windows 8 OEM Specs to Prevent Linux Dual Boot?
![Windows 8 OEM Specs to Prevent Linux Dual Boot? [Secure, Signed Unified EFI Standard to Replace BIOS & Might Make it Difficult for Linux to Run on Windows 8 Certified PCs]](http://tftscdn4.nexus404.com/Blog/thumbnailimages/alt/windows-8-samsung-tablet-pc-1TFTSThumb220153.jpg)
The Linux community has long advocated the use of its open source operating system on desktop computers. But with the upcoming release of Microsoft’s Windows 8, Linux might see itself edged out of the picture.
While Linux is the most popular server operating system, it has had difficulty growing a mainstream audience, except for enthusiasts. The popularity of netbooks started with low-price Linux-powered offerings, although the introduction of “starter” editions of Windows somewhat stymied that effort.
With the upcoming release of Windows 8, Linux might face an added hurdle due to the implementation of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface or UEFI. EFI is the same system that Apple’s new Intel-based OS X uses in booting up and communicating with hardware, in place of BIOS. Unified EFI is an upgrade of the same, and is considered a good alternative to BIOS, being platform-agnostic, compatible with both 32- and 64-bit operating systems, and able to boot partitions up to 9.4 zettabytes (or 9.5 billion terabytes).
But while Linux kernels 2.6 and later can boot on a UEFI system, the problem is with Microsoft’s stringent requirements for OEM partners, particularly for Windows 8-certified clients to support secure booting. With secure booting — or hard-booting — “all firmware and software in the boot process must be signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA).” This essentially locks down the boot process, which Microsoft says is now a big target of malware attacks. No Linux distribution is currently signed with a CA, even though Linux bootloaders are compatible with unsigned firmware.
The solution at this point is to get the Linux kernel to be signed with a trusted CA. Another alternative is for device manufacturers to give a user the option to disable secure booting. In either case, however, dual-booting across Windows and Linux will no longer be possible.
Did Microsoft intend this hard-booting feature as a means to secure their market share on desktop computers against OS competitors?
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My understanding is that MS will only require that Secure Boot be enabled by default for hardware manufacturers and OEMs to receive the “Designed for Windows 8″ logo as part of the licensing program. I doubt it will be required for Secure Boot to remain enabled in order to boot Windows 8 in the first place (that would also prevent Windows 8 from being installed on current Windows 7 hardware using BIOS, and I doubt MS wants to prevent people from upgrading their existing systems), and any good OEM or hardware manufacturer should (and hopefully will) include a way to disable Secure Boot in the UEFI in order to boot unsigned OSes like GNU/Linux. That said, some manufacturers and OEMs are bound to do the minimum required to meet the licensing requirements and may not include anyway to disable Secure Boot, in which case they’ll likely receive poor reviews from unimpressed Linux users.