Bad Windows

A number of Australian Linux users have filed a formal complaint with the national competition regulator over what many perceive to be restrictive practices introduced in upcoming Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system which may stop many mass-market computers from being able to boot alternatives such as Linux.

Microsoft recently revealed it would support a PC booting protocol named the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) in Windows 8. The move was broadly seen as positive, as it will increase the security of PCs as well as doing away with the legacy limited BIOS platform which underlies operating systems like Windows and Linux on computers today.

However, Microsoft’s move immediately got sections of the open source community up in arms, as it has the potential to lock out rival operating systems from being installed on PCs from the likes of manufacturers such as Dell, HP and Lenovo — unless those manufacturers explicitly work with the Linux community to support a number of different versions of Linux.

Read more at Delimiter

No sooner had bloggers decided that Microsoft’s widely trumpeted Windows 8 wouldn’t pose any serious threat to Linux than a whole new wrinkle emerged. “Wrinkle” is actually a bit of a euphemism, in this case; in fact, it was the prospect of a computing landscape that could change life as Linux users know it. Namely? Word that the new Unified Extensible Firmware Interface secure boot protocol used by Windows 8 could make Windows 8 PCs uninhabitable by Linux. “It’s probably not worth panicking yet,” wrote Red Hat developer Matthew Garrett last week. “But it is worth being concerned.”

Read more at LinuxInsider

Recent suggestions that Microsoft is attempting to lock out Linux through the use of secure boot in Windows 8 have been refuted by Steven Sinofsky, president of the company’s Windows and Windows Live division. In a Building Windows 8 blog posting introduced by Sinofsky, he diplomatically refers to “some comments about how Microsoft implemented secure boot” and how “unfortunately these seemed to synthesize scenarios that are not the case”.

The posting continues with an explanation, from Microsoft program manager Tony Mangefeste, of the mechanisms used and the purposes of those mechanisms as they are used in Windows 8. “Most customers will have their systems protected against boot loader attacks”, says Mangefeste but “For the enthusiast who wants to run older operating systems, the option is there to allow you to make that decision”. He points out that the Samsung tablet distributed at the //BUILD/ conference with Windows 8′s Developer Preview allows for secure boot to be easily disabled. “At the end of the day, the customer is in control of their PC. Microsoft’s philosophy is to provide customers with the best experience first, and allow them to make decisions themselves”.

Read more at H-online

Windows 8′s Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot protocol could lead to eight-second boot times, but it could also be used to keep users from loading Linux on a Windows 8 PC, warns a Red Hat developer. Meanwhile, Casio signed a Linux-related patent agreement with Microsoft.

Microsoft cheered Windows users earlier this month when it demonstrated the upcoming Windows 8 operating system booting in eight seconds. Part of the technology behind the fast boots, however, could enable Microsoft and its PC vendor partners to block users from loading Linux on a Windows 8 PC, according to a Matthew Garrett, a mobile Linux developer at Red Hat, writing in a Sept. 20 blog post.

Microsoft recommends using the latest Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot protocol to achieve the best boot results. Released in April, the new UEFI includes a secure boot protocol intended to block rootkit infections by requiring the entry of secure keys before allowing executables or drivers to be loaded onto the device. The protocol is required for PCs running Windows 8 clients in order to conform to the Windows 8 logo program, writes Garrett.

Read more at DesktopLinux.com

According to a report in Computer Weekly based on documents seen by the magazine, the European Commission has purchased large volumes of Microsoft software on six occasions since 1993 without a single public tendering process, thereby excluding potential competitors. The most recent agreement with Microsoft, covering software licences for over 36,000 PCs and supporting infrastructure at 42 European institutions, was valued at €50 million. The software included desktop operating systems, SQL Server Enterprise, email, project management and collaboration tools.

Read more at H-online

Well it was a difficult week for those of us here in the Linux blogosphere last week, what with all the din emanating from the Windows territories to the south. Drums, cymbals and fanfare of every sort effectively drowned out every conversation we tried to have here in these parts, as did all the frantic chanting. It was a relief when the week finally wound down and we could all begin speaking at normal volumes again. Woe betide those with noisy neighbors!

Read more at LinuxInsider

You, yes you, can now download a copy of Windows 8. This marks the first time that Microsoft has released a pre-beta version of one of their flagship programs to the general public. I wonder where they got that idea. Could it be from Linux? After all Linux distributions has been making early versions available to the public since Linux started 20-years ago.

The Windows 8 Developer Preview alpha build, was released shortly after 8 PM Eastern on Tuesday, September 13th. The last time, debuted a similar developers preview of Windows 7 in October 2008, the company limited the early look to attendees at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC). The unwashed general public to wait until next year for a beta . That failed. Copies were leaked to BitTorrent sites within hours.

Read more at ZDNet

Now that Microsoft wants to be Linux’s new best friend, there’s bound to be no end of sweet nothings and touching gestures emanating out of Redmond. After all, we’re pals now, right? Lo and behold! For all you skeptics who doubted the software behemoth’s amorous words, consider a few phrasing changes it recently made in its last two annual financial filings. Whereas said documents used to include Linux as a primary threat to Windows — alongside Apple and Google — Redmond’s documents now reportedly don’t mention any competitive threat from desktop Linux at all.

Read more at LinuxInsider

A person previously chosen to head technology for the Obama administration was embracing Google, Drupal (GPL), GNU/Linux etc. But it was too good to last and as we noted last year, there was something mysterious about his departure, almost as though someone was trying to topple him (we wrote about him on many past occasions).

Just like in the FCC, the White House is falling back into Microsoft’s hands. Gates and Ballmer are already frequent White House visitors, so the match seems like it was made in Heaven and the connection Microsoft has to the US government is a subject we have an entire wiki page about.

Read more at TechRights

A comprehensive study of web users has determined that the dumber you are, the more likely you are to use Microsoft Internet Explorer.

After measuring the IQs of exactly 101,326 users and correlating their scores with the browser they had used to access the test, “There was a clear indication … that the subjects using any version of Internet Explorer ranked significantly lower on an average than others,” concludes the study, conducted by the Vancouver, Canada, psychometric-assessment firm, AptiQuant.

At the other end of the scale are those oh-so-brilliant Opera users, followed close behind by users of Camino and Internet Explorer with Chrome Frame.

Read more at The Register