What is on Your Mind?

Any comments on this Windows 8 OEM specs may block Linux booting | ITworld

My first impression is that this is a good way to create a market for machines with open firmware. And since such a machine cannot ship with Windows 8, this would mean that alternative operating system enthusiasts will no longer have to pay the Microsoft Windows tax.

Most OEM's load their machines with tons of junk software because their profit margins (unlike Apple's) are tiny, so I doubt that they'd be willing to forego any margin on non-MS machines. You probably wouldn't pay less, but at least your money isn't going to a company whose product you do not intend to use.

Regardless, this does not worry me.

Regards,
Alister

I'm comfortable with the fact that Windows is still dominant in the desktop market meanwhile and for several years to come unless there is a giant in the filed like Microsoft, And Linux is not far from dominance in micro computing play ground either.

We've heard this before when the 'trusted computing' flap happened. I'm not sure who to believe this time. Let's wait and see.

Its a shame that a hardware company doesn't build a PC that is only capable of running Unix/Linux OS's. Just to test the water and see how the market reacts to it.

It would truly be the start of competetiveness for personal computing alternatives and I would think be a major jump in the number of Unix/Linux users.

sun (now oracle) did build desktops which would only run with a sparc enabled os. and windows is not... but if you don't sell enough of the hardware (maybe because it is damn expensive) this products won't survive!
so in the end it's YOUR (yes, all off you!!!) fault that there is no *nix only desktop hardware .

what, like the PPC Mac?