It is designed to keep malware at bay when a
Windows 8 computer boots up. However, UEFI Secure Boot is also at the heart of
a complaint filed against Microsoft by a Linux developers' group in Spain. The
allegations that the software giant limits user choice may sound all too
familiar to the company, and it's up to Microsoft to show that it is indeed
following strict European Commission standards. 
Microsoft is once again being challenged
in
Europe over alleged anti-competitive practices.
A group representing Linux developers in
Spain has filed a complaint with the European Commission charging that
Microsoft's desktop operating system, Windows 8, supports technology that makes
it difficult for users to place other operating systems on their computers.
The complaint comes less than three weeks
after the EC fined Microsoft US$730 million for breaking an agreement it had
made with regulators over offering European users a choice of web browsers.
The offending technology, called UEFI Secure
Boot, acts as an "obstruction mechanism" to installing other
operating systems on a computer because it requires a digital certificate from
Microsoft to boot a system in a non-Windows OS, Reuters reported Tuesday.
Any program that wants to operate in a market
where Microsoft has a dominant position must have Microsoft's permission to do
so because of UEFI, the Linux users group Hispalinux said in a blog post on its
website, according to a translation.
Such a requirement will cause irreparable damage
to the European software industry, Hispalinux maintained.
EC Sees Nothing Wrong
"UEFI is an
industry standard aimed at improving computer security, and the approach has
been public for some time," Microsoft spokesperson Robin Koch said in an
email to TechNewsWorld.
"[W]e are
confident our approach complies with the law and helps keep customers
safe," he added.
UEFI Secure Boot is a
firmware security solution designed to stop the loading of malicious code
during the boot up process. However, the technology can be shut off -- as some
settings can now be altered in a PC's BIOS.
The Linux Foundation,
as well as others, have created free solutions that allow Linux to boot without
sacrificing the security protections of UEFI.
Earlier this month,
EC vice president and competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the
European Parliament that his agency did not believe Microsoft's support of UEFI
broke any rules.
"The UEFI
standard is developed and managed by the UEFI Forum," he said.
"Microsoft is only one member of the UEFI forum, among other chipset,
firmware and hardware manufacturers. The UEFI forum is open to any individual
or company to join free of cost."
While acknowledging
that the EC is monitoring the implementation of the Microsoft Windows 8
security requirements, Almunia said, "The Commission is however currently
not in possession of evidence suggesting that the Windows 8 security
requirements would result in practices in violation of EU competition
rules."
Based on the
information currently available to the Commission, "it appears that the
OEMs are required to give end users the option to disable the UEFI secure
boot," he said. However, "the Commission will continue to monitor
market developments so as to ensure that competition and a level playing field
are preserved amongst all market players."
Kerfuffle
in a Teacup?
This latest European
controversy involving Microsoft may be a tempest in a teapot.
"There's no
secret agenda, no evil plan here from Microsoft," Gerald Pfeifer, director
of product management for Linux distro maker SUSE
told TechNewsWorld.
Pfeifer noted that
SUSE had no problems obtaining a certificate from Microsoft to run its version
of Linux on a Windows box. "It cost a $100 to obtain a certificate for all
SUSE users," he said.
"I don't think
there's any conspiracy," he added. "Microsoft has good intentions
about this."
While current Windows
8 machines with UEFI Secure Boot enabled users to manually shut off the
feature, Pfeifer conceded that's likely to disappear in a few years.
"Within a year
or two -- at the most three years -- [UEFI] will be the only option," he
predicted.
That's because system
vendors have to include two sets of code in their computers to support toggling
UEFI Secure Boot, something they'd rather not do. "I think we'll see
system vendors remove that switch sooner rather than later," Pfeiffer
said.
A
Warning
Although Microsoft
appears to have the upper hand in this latest scuffle in Europe, it shouldn't
get complacent, cautioned Michael Cherry, a Windows analyst with Directions on Microsoft.
"They'd better
take this seriously, because we saw what happened several weeks ago when they
slipped up on the browser ballot being left out of Windows 7 SP 1," he
told TechNewsWorld.
"Microsoft needs
to get before the European authorities and make a strong and compelling case
for why this change was made," he continued.
The Hispalinux
complaint may have some substance. "Getting certificates may be a
barrier," Cherry said. "It's not an insurmountable barrier, but it
may be a barrier and that's what the root of their complaint is about. That's
why it's real important for Microsoft to get out in front of this one and
explain fully and clearly to the EU what they're intent was, what they've done
and what the alternatives are for these people."
Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/77645.html
Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/story/77645.html
