UEFI Secure Boot in Fedora 18 will use Microsoft signed key

[MyWorld]

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-sourc...d-fedora/11187

Here is another interesting and balanced (IMO) article concerning this whole deal. They talk to Linus and the RedHat/Fedora project, interesting. Should calm some fears at least.

[MyWorld]

Some more news on this:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...challenge.html

[ocky]

Ubuntu Linux changes its plans for Windows 8 Secure Boot

Microsoft's “Secure Boot” plans for Windows 8 have already caused no end of controversy in the Linux community, and certainly one of the more divisive announcements in recent months was Canonical's decision to drop the GRUB 2 bootloader as part of its solution for Ubuntu Linux.


It didn't take long for the Free Software Foundation (FSF) to react to that news, and its response wasn't favorable.

“Our main concern is that because they are afraid of falling out of compliance with GPLv3, they plan to drop Grub 2 on Secure Boot systems in favor of another bootloader with a different license that lacks GPLv3's protections for user freedom,” wrote FSF Executive Director John Sullivan in a recent white paper on the topic. “We urge Ubuntu and Canonical to reverse this decision, and we offer our help in working through any licensing concerns.”

Sure enough, it now looks like that's just what happened, and Canonical on Thursday announced that it will use GRUB 2 after all.

Good news.

[MyWorld]

It seems the final chapter or UEFI has not yet been written:
http://www.zdnet.com/linux-on-window...ce-7000010697/

Getting Linux to boot and install on PCs locked down with Windows 8's UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) Secure Boot continues to be annoying at best and downright impossible in some cases. Still, slowly, ever so slowly, progress is being made.
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When you put it all together, it's clear that Linux has been making progress in working with Windows 8 PCs equipped with UEFI Secure Boot. That said, it's also clear that getting Linux to install and boot on a Windows 8 PC is still a major nuisance.

[garyc]

I really really do not like this. Maybe the EU will rule that when you first boot up your new laptop must ask you what OS to install...Windoze or Linux Mint 13...like they did with browers lol

Is there a solution in South Africa similar to that in the US where the user can opt to not take the Windows that is on a laptop when purchasing it? The value of the Windows licence is then refunded.

This would have been useful in a recent Linux install I did on a Win 8 laptop. It took some work to disable all that junk on the BIOS so that the install could be carried out.

[MyWorld]

You can apply for it, but Windows will point to the vendor (HP, Acer, whoever) that they should refund you, but the vendor will then point at MS and either state they cannot refund it (breach of agreement on their part) or it is such a schlep that most people just ignore it all together.

[garyc]

You can apply for it, but Windows will point to the vendor (HP, Acer, whoever) that they should refund you, but the vendor will then point at MS and either state they cannot refund it (breach of agreement on their part) or it is such a schlep that most people just ignore it all together.

Thanks, I had a feeling it would be like that.