[Novalug] UEFI - Will Windows 8 Secure Boot Block Linux?

[Bonnie Dalzell]

I recently have come across a couple of articles discussing this as a 
potential threat to installing alternate OS's.


<quote from below article>
A security feature designed to block malware could result in PCs no longer 
booting alternate operating systems, open source advocates warn.

The feature in question, unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI), is 
designed to be a more flexible replacement for the BIOS that's long 
featured in PCs. "In most PCs today, the pre-operating system environment 
is vulnerable to attacks by redirecting the boot loader handoff to 
possible malicious loaders. These loaders would remain undetected to 
operating system security measures and antimalware software," said Steven 
Sinofsky, president of the Windows group at Microsoft, in a blog post. 
"Windows 8 addresses this vulnerability with UEFI secure boot </quote>

http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/management/231602140

What do you all think of this. In the future will we end up not being able 
to buy a used PC that cannot handle the latest Windoze and put a 
*nix OS on it?

Could you buy a used machine you were planning to wipe and just remove 
the windows linked UEFI and put in one that you had the key for?

I am rather clueless on this matter. Seems like something worthy of a 
discussion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        Bonnie Dalzell, MA
mail:5100 Hydes Rd PO Box 60, Hydes,MD,USA 21082-0060|EMAIL:bdalzell at qis.net
Freelance anatomist, vertebrate paleontologist, writer, illustrator, dog
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