[governance] Verisign to control what operating systems you can run on your computer

[Daniel Kalchev]

On 07.06.12 22:20, Kerry Brown wrote:
>
> We’ll have to agree to disagree. I don’t see that changing a setting 
> in the BIOS is a big deal. If Microsoft was telling OEMs to not 
> implement a way to turn off SecureBoot I’d be right there with you 
> complaining. FWIW Apple is also implementing this and there is no way 
> to turn it off AFAIK. New Apples will only be able to boot Mac OS or 
> Windows 8 because of this.
>

While I don't intend to defend Apple in any way... what you describe is:

- speculation, because no such Apple computers exist;
- not likely to happen, because an Apple computer user might want to 
install Windows 7 (which is better suited for desktop/laptop use) and 
that Windows version can't boot with "secure" boot loaders. The 
existence of successful previous versions of Windows is the sole reason 
why Microsoft is agreeing to make this optional on "desktop" computers.

My opinion is that this idea will not fly for long. The percentage of 
Windows computers is decreasing and the new purchases are more in either 
the DIY category or computers not intended to run Windows. Those who 
manufacture hardware need to make some money, however strong their love 
for Microsoft is (or not).
Yes, we will see a number of models with such UEFI loader, mostly on 
trade shows -- and life will continue as usual.
The concept is just not good enough from technical and logistics 
perspective. It benefits nobody else but Microsoft.

There is of course the unfortunate involvement in all this for Verisign. 
I wonder here however, because Verisign actually sold the certificates 
business to Symantec last year. Are they starting again? Not likely. So 
it will be really Symantec, to take all the bad press. But, if this is 
going to use certificates, someone has to root the chain of trust and it 
is likely all those industry parties agree that be someone "impartial".
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