So, how do I???

Update the BIOS?

Don't you need to do silly things like boot from something like a floppy, or USB device?

I believe that the BIOS problem was solved before by "clean room" stuff, and I suspect that it will be done again!

The new MS strategy ?

I'm almost tempted to think that MS knows how well their new Win8 is going to be received by the major public (the desktop users); which I don't think is going to be all that positive.

What was the first thing /many/ people did when they got themselves a Vista PC? Either re-installing XP on it themselves, getting one with allowed them to install XP or (as I have experienced a few times): calling a friend to help 'm out getting XP back onto it.

One has to wonder... Maybe this is MS answer to all that; simply trying to disallow people to pull something like that off so that they have no choice but to stick to one of their more modern OS's ?

Console Development

That's what this reminds me of. It makes me think back to the old Blue Playstations, or perhaps more accurately the black Yaroze boxes. They were just PS1 Playstations, but came with a simple dev kit (and a little extra hardware inside) that allowed hobbyists to program them. You could upload your finished programs and other people with Yaroze could grab them and run them.

You see the parallel? In order to do Linux dev (or any unsigned OS dev for that matter) you'd need to buy into the 'Yaroze'-equivalent PC. The hobbyist's PC. Everyday bods buying a computer would just end up with the basic grey box.

Maybe somebody can flesh out where that would drive the market, but it strikes me that anyone wanting to deviate from the mainstream at all would leave themselves at the mercy of the hardware manufacturers, and their altruism regarding releasing boards for unsigned code. As I understand it, Yaroze actually cost Sony money. But what they did get is a whole new generation of bedroom coders already experienced with the Playstation dev tools - that's a good investment. It scares me to think that Microsoft could create a world where a programmer's first experience of writing an operating system is when they start to work for Microsoft and finally get to recompile Windows and sign it with the MS key...

What older versions of Windows?

There seems to be a lot of moaning on here about a complete non issue as far as older versions of Windows are concerned.

The only versions of Windows that support UEFI boot are Windows Vista SP1 x64 and newer. No 32 bit editions of any Windows version support UEFI.

So the only old versions of Windows a user could install are Vista and Windows 7, and I can't imagine why anyone would install Vista rather than Windows 7.

If you are the sort of person who installs your own O/S, then you are probably the sort of person who buys their own motherboard, so buy one that will let you turn the feature off. Not many aftermarket boards will ship with this feature unable to be turned off if they want to sell in any volume.

The Dell's and HP's of this world cater to a mass market of people who are unlikely replace their O/S or install a dual boot system. Microsoft are not insisting that this feature not be allowed to be disabled, only that it is turned on when the PC ships to get the Windows 8 Certified Logo. It's not Microsoft's fault if the OEM don't allow it to be turned off.

If Apple did this it would be a good thing, a great security feature, another reason why Apple are miles better than Microsoft etc.... but because its Microsoft it must be evil.

I'm constantly amazed by the stupid comments from Microsoft haters who will find any reason to vilify the company, even without understanding what they are talking about.

Damned either way

Until Windows Vista came out, everyone complained continually and vociferously about how insecure Windows computers were. Apple used the security of Macs as one of their main selling points and sites like this gleefully poked fun at MS whenever a major security hole was found. Now Linux fanbois are saying MS should not implement security features because they actually quite like the fact that Windows computers are less secure than Apple ones.

As a model for business PCs, the closed box approach is fine. It's a waste of money to add RAM to out-of-warranty PCs in this environment especially now that MS have finally gotten off the hardware upgrade requirement cycle for their OS (just as I predicted they would have to when Vista came out). As for laptops - well, what percentage of home laptop users ever upgrade them anyway? I'd say a very small percentage, and those who have done in the past had to because they moved from XP to Vista / W7. The move from Vista/W7 to W8 will not need a RAM upgrade because MS now designed OSes to make best use of the hardware available, rather than expecting businesses to go out and buy new computers specifically to use new OS. As for installing an old MS OS on a new computer - you ever heard of Virtualisation? Seriously, who wants to run XP as their main OS on a quad core PC with 4Gb RAM?

I am a libertarian at heart, and I really do hope there will be enough of a market for up-gradable mobos to keep the geeks happy. However, to expect MS to base the design of their OSes around the desires of a tiny fraction of the consumer base is stupid. Widely used open Linux was only ever a fantasy and Linux users should count themselves lucky that they've been allowed to free-ride on the back of MS, Intel innovation etc over the last decade. The real future for Linux is in custom made hardware a la Chrome / Samsung laptops. Apple's hardware is designed for Apple OS, MS hardware is designed for MS OS and so why should Linux be any different?

surprise, surprise

"There are many rootkits and malware that run at the time of startup, so this step would be good for security."

They still think linux is viral. no matter what they new release they give.

Sure it will be up to the vendors just like what os to ship is up to them - wink, wink,

Does this really surprise anybody that microsoft is doing this? They haven't changed and apparently DOJ or NO DOJ they never will change.

microsoft is above the law - period end of story. welcome to the 21st century.

The keys come with the car.

The answer is pretty simple.

Demand that any non-military hardware purchased using the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface must have the documented key with it.

The problem lies with contacting Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Organization. You don't get to vote.

Contact them or their members by any means demanding the keys.

I think I could survive typing them in.

I give it about 6 months until someone cracks the encryption they use to store the keys and they will be readily available on pastebin, Both Sony and MS have similar secure boot systems on their consoles to stop unauthorised code being executed and look how secure they are.