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Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

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Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

#41

Post by palish »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #39
jrockway wrote: post #8

I doubt any major vendor will do this. First off, they don't want to be locked into selling Microsoft-only machines. If they can't pretend Linux is an option, Microsoft can charge them $1000 for a Windows license and there's nothing they can do about it. If they have Linux hanging over Microsoft's head, though, they'll get better pricing on Windows. (Think this won't happen? It already did with XP on netbooks. When M…

> Nobody uses Windows as a server OS, This is the problem with getting tech news only from HN.

Yes. At my last job, they had 200+ servers, all Windows.

When I tried to bring up Linux as an option, they sort of winced and said "Linux... ehhh... it's hard to get Linux doing what you want."

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

#42

Post by dpark »

jonhohle wrote: post #38
dpark wrote: post #20

Unless I'm misunderstanding something, this is silly FUD. Microsoft isnt stupid enough (or evil enough, despite what some like to believe) to attempt to force PC oems to effectively block all OSes except Windows. They know this wouldn't work, and there'd be no point in trying to force it. Supporting hardened boot is not the same as requiring it. Microsoft already utilizes this for BitLocker. You can still install Lin…

> Microsoft isnt stupid enough (or evil enough, despite what some like to believe) to attempt to force PC oems to effectively block all OSes except Windows. Um, Microsoft used to do exactly this. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/31/jean_louis_gass_233_... I don't know if they have the muscle or the guts to try something like this again. edit: fixed typo

There's a rather large difference between contractually forbidding PC OEMs from selling Windows machines bundled with BeOS and technologically blocking non-Windows OSes from executing. It's one thing to say "you can't bundle another OS with mine". It's another thing entirely to say "your hardware can never run any OS except mine".

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

#43

Post by th0ma5 »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #39
jrockway wrote: post #8

I doubt any major vendor will do this. First off, they don't want to be locked into selling Microsoft-only machines. If they can't pretend Linux is an option, Microsoft can charge them $1000 for a Windows license and there's nothing they can do about it. If they have Linux hanging over Microsoft's head, though, they'll get better pricing on Windows. (Think this won't happen? It already did with XP on netbooks. When M…

> Nobody uses Windows as a server OS, This is the problem with getting tech news only from HN.

I read this as no-one uses Windows (desktop) as a server OS. This is true.

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

#46

Post by th0ma5 »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #23
ghshephard wrote: post #12

The first paragraph is just silly: "After years of trying to cut off Linux growth as a desktop platform on x86 and x64 PCs, Microsoft may have actually figured out a way to stop Linux deployments on client PCs dead in their tracks." I'm quite certain Microsoft has (A) not put any significant effort into cutting off growth as a desktop platform, and (B) If they had, they were almost completely successful, and characte…

Shhh, not so loud! Such thoughts would destabilize Slashdot if they got out! Seriously, this seems especially short-sighted, as the perception is that MS is getting thrashed by Apple in the consumer market. I think its more about preventing malware from getting ahold of the boot process, side effects be damned.

That's a chilling thing IMHO when we rely on a single corporation to protect us. As far as the /. like rhetoric, you're using the parent's opinion that MS hasn't been trying, and is indeed seeing a steady increasing competition in desktop screen space (which I've seen in two different Fortune 500 companies first hand within the last 6 years), so if that isn't true, then the rhetoric isn't just rhetoric.

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

#47

Post by th0ma5 »

palish wrote: post #41
recoiledsnake wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody uses Windows as a server OS, This is the problem with getting tech news only from HN.

Yes. At my last job, they had 200+ servers, all Windows. When I tried to bring up Linux as an option, they sort of winced and said "Linux... ehhh... it's hard to get Linux doing what you want."

I've actually never heard that, I've heard more like "no one will support it" until RedHat came around, then it was "no one knows how to use it" until I saw IBM use it, then I heard "but there's no software" until I saw Oracle make software for it. That was just in Non-IT businesses. In IT-industry businesses, I never heard Windows discussed too seriously outside of "well, we had to unfortunately because of a client..."

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

#48

Post by th0ma5 »

jsz0 wrote: post #35

Linux (on the desktop) is probably of little or no concern to Microsoft at this point. They've got bigger problems to worry about. If they want to focus on making computers sold with Windows offer the best possible experience it will benefit the most people. Possibly it will make things harder for Linux users but from Microsoft's perspective if the OEM is shipping Windows there's no reason to consider Linux as part o…

My personal opinion is that it is indeed little concern, but a little concern to many parts of MS, which compared to many other companies may well look like a dedicated anti-linux corporation that outnumbers them.

Re: Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting

#50

Post by [deleted] »

th0ma5 wrote: post #47
palish wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. At my last job, they had 200+ servers, all Windows. When I tried to bring up Linux as an option, they sort of winced and said "Linux... ehhh... it's hard to get Linux doing what you want."

I've actually never heard that, I've heard more like "no one will support it" until RedHat came around, then it was "no one knows how to use it" until I saw IBM use it, then I heard "but there's no software" until I saw Oracle make software for it. That was just in Non-IT businesses. In IT-industry businesses, I never heard Windows discussed too seriously outside of "well, we had to unfortunately because of a client.…

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