Windows 8 Secure Boot Fears Continue
A group that advocates for software user rights has launched a petition against technology in Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 operating system, saying it could turn PCs into Windows-only machines.
The technology in question, Secure Boot, is designed to prevent malware from infecting computers during startup, before Windows and all of its built-in security features are launched.
Secure Boot works by confirming that all components contain the appropriate security certificates before they are allowed to launch. To meet Microsoft's Windows Certification requirements, PCs must ship with Secure Boot Enabled. The Free Software Foundation said that it's worried that Secure Boot could prevent users from installing alternate operating systems, such as Linux, on their computers.
