'Secure' boot: much to be scared about

You need a magnifying glass to find MS products on ARM devices. So what makes these worrywart journalists think vendors are going to put Secure Boot on their devices designed to run say Android. No, the real battles here are going to be on X86. If a vendor won't put a provision in their BIOS to disable Secure Boot don't buy their products. I know I won't.

Well, the real problem on ARM will be that MS will use leverage to force ARM OEMs to build a certain number of WinRT devices, forcing Android, etc. out of the market... The usual tactics are involved, threats and actual lawsuits, strong arming their supply and retail chains, and deep discounts for bending over...

That's on top of x86 issues. I really don't think that MS is afraid of losing x86 desktop dominance. They are afraid of x86 as a desktop architecture & its dominance fading, cutting into their cash cow market, and forcing them to compete with Linux and iOS on ARM...

@JASEP

Microsoft has no leverage on ARM vendors. Their penetration in markets that use Arm devices is hardly a blip. So why would OEMs force the OS they increasingly use, Android, out of the market by by bending over for a company that isn't competitive. They even have largely independent retail channels.

That's one of the definitions of monopoly abuse -- using your dominance in one area to tilt the field in another. And I wouldn't count on Microsoft not having "leverage" on the ARM field. To start with there's all those "patent settlements" with "undisclosed" terms. I'm sure there's other fronts on which pressure can be applied.

I think JaseP and BernardSwiss make some excellent points. ARM processors are also being used for a new generation of servers and Microsoft would love to lock Linux out of at least some of that market: http://arstechnica.com/business/2011/11/the-opposite-of-virt... http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/01/06/nvidi...

I don't think these are "worrywart journalists". Current market penetration is not an issue. Grabbing future market and locking out competitors is the potential problem and the tech media is correct to report about it.

And then there's the evidence of Raspberry Pi sales, going like gangbusters. Of course, that has to make Redmond nervous, given that the RPi doesn't have, and can basically never have, UEFI hard-wired in.