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Microsoft to lock out other operating systems from Windows 8 ARM PCs & devices

[ Thanks to Steven J.
Vaughan-Nichols
for this link. ]

“Microsoft and its vendor friends said that there’s no Windows 8
plot to lock other operating systems from Windows 8 devices, but
now we know Microsoft was not telling the whole truth.

“Journalist Glyn Moody dug around Microsoft’s Windows Hardware
Certification Requirements for Windows 8 client and server systems
and found on page 116 that will Windows 8 Secure Boot can be
disabled: on Intel systems, “Disabling Secure [Boot] must not be
possible on ARM systems.”

“What does that mean? According to Aaron Williamson, a lawyer
with the Software Freedom Law Center an organization that provides
pro-bono legal services to developers of Free and open-source
software, Microsoft has wasted no time in effectively banning most
alternative operating systems on ARM-based devices that ship with
Windows 8.”


Complete Story

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