● 11.22.12
●● Vista 8 Endorsements Are Fake, Microsoft Decided to Break Rather Than Make
Posted in Vista 8, Windows at 7:01 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Photo by Bill Ebbesen
Summary: The multi-billion-dollar astroturf campaign for Vista 8 and Microsoft’s UEFI-encumbered hardware are both failing, but for new hardware with UEFI there are still issues
Oprah is doing it again, offering fake endorsements for Microsoft, this time because Vista 8 is out. It is not just a fake endorsement because it is paid for; Oprah does not even use Vista 8.
Mr, Pogson and others say that Vista 8 might not get much love in the German public sector because hardware with UEFI is a no-go area based on the rules. To put it crudely:
As M$ insists OEMs ship UEFI “Secure Boot” enabled, the German government seemingly intends to ban M$’s OS from now on. That’s great. Trusting M$ with any IT is insane.
Sam Varghese, who has been actively against UEFI, shows how to install Vista 8 without UEFI while noting:
↺ install Vista 8 without UEFI
At the gates of Microsoft, there are numerous competing Windows versions now almost falling over each other as they strive for marketshare.
The Windows franchise is dying, so Microsoft plays hardball with hardware keys. As Sam Dean put it:
Linux users who have tracked each step in the endless saga surrounding the Windows 8 UEFI Secure Boot scheme may be disappointed to hear that a promised workaround is delayed. Last year, in the post “Will Windows 8 Lock Linux Out of PCs?,” I discussed a Microsoft methodology for ultra-fast booting of Windows 8 PC through a specification called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). Linux users cried foul over it, because UEFI makes it technically possible for a hardware manufacturer to deliver a Windows 8 machine that won’t boot an alternative operating system.Finally, The Linux Foundation came up with a plan “to enable Linux (and indeed all Open Source based distributions) to continue operating as Secure Boot enabled systems roll out.” We covered plans for the workaround here, but now it is confirmed that it will be delayed.
In other words, Linux is being excluded. Just what Microsoft needed ahead of Christmas. Today in Birmingham I went to the Apple Store (inquiring about a gift for a friend who insisted on it) and it was flooded; it sure seems like Vista 8 has driven many people to alternatives. Let’s make sure that disgruntled Windows users choose to install GNU/Linux rather than buy Apple-branded PCs. █
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