"Designed for Windows 8" = "Won't run Linux ever"

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New trusted boot feature, supposedly to prevent malware (which unfortunatel=
y is a legitimate problem), allows the vendor (or more likely Microsoft) to=
 decide exactly what operating systems you are allowed to install. This alr=
eady happens with mobile phones, although some vendors (Apple) tend to be f=
ascist about it, and some are very lax due to customer pressure (HTC).=20

Odds are servers will generally not enable this except where corporates wan=
t it; cheap laptops and Apple will probably enable it without providing an =
off switch; custom motherboards will leave it to the user, but since you ca=
n't build a laptop, it's still a worry ... and migrating existing users to =
linux will probably become a lost cause (not that it's easy now). I smell a=
 major anti-competition lawsuit, but they have several very plausible excus=
es re security ... This may signal a new push for TPM, which after all is i=
n most business laptops nowadays, but this may or may not happen given the =
apparently rather large software development cost (it isn't needed for this=
 bit). The conspiracy theorist in me says if this becomes a matter of law o=
r policy there will be some major cyber-attacks to "prove" that such things=
 are needed ...

Bottom line: If it has the "Designed for Windows 8" logo (next year), you p=
robably can't run Linux on it; another possible outcome is you may only be =
able to run OSs approved by the hardware manufacturer, which could be very =
messy, less likely.

China will be delighted: The cheaper and more widespread this nonsense beco=
mes, the more of the expensive development is done by third parties, the ea=
sier it will be for them to really lock down cyberspace once they have poli=
tical support for doing so (their incompetent, half hearted and illegal eff=
ort in Green Dam was successfully rejected by the people but that was befor=
e the Arab Spring, the hardliners are stronger now and economic chaos will =
likely make this worse).

http://linux.slashdot.org/story/11/09/21/062231/how-microsoft-can-lock-linu=
x-off-windows-8-pcs
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/78727

Note to Freenet folks:
I apologise for not being around much lately. I hope to be able to spend on=
e day a week on Freenet consistently soon. I am cooking a small build, whic=
h you can test (please test it!), and I am hoping to make further tweaks on=
 load management soon. However, some reports re performance are very encour=
aging e.g. ArneBab reporting 14KB/sec file insert speeds.

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