01.22.14
When Microsoft Deletes Windows and GNU/Linux
Summary: The abusive monopolist continue to find new ways to marginalise GNU/Linux while making it look like an accident or ‘for security’; meanwhile, however, sometimes it’s Windows — not GNU/Linux — that stops working
We have written extensively about (U)EFI and what it means to GNU/Linux, warning about what’s becoming a reality now (Microsoft “kills the bootloader”). This sounds like the Vista 8.1 bricking issue. To quote Steven Rosenberg, “So I figured I’d upgrade the Windows 8 portion of my Windows/Fedora dual-booting (and naturally EFI-running) system to the presumably shinier, newer Windows 8.1 with the offer of an upgrade via the Microsoft Store.
“Big fucking mistake.”
Yes, well, it’s a “big fucking mistake” to get a machine that’s EFI-running, too. Microsoft works closely with Intel, which is in bed with the intelligence community, and that’s not to mention the company’s strong ties with the NSA and potential use of (U)EFI to remotely brick motherboards, as we correctly predicted. The whole proposition of (U)EFI is innately dangerous, just like proprietary software (a lot of GNU/Linux-running PCs have Skype installed, which gives Microsoft and the NSA control over those machines, too).
Anyway, back to Rosenberg’s rant: “I go into Windows 8 and do the upgrade. It tells me at some point that “there will be several reboots.”
“The first reboot was the last. Windows would no longer boot. (Luckily Fedora continued to boot during this whole nightmare.) When I tried to start Windows 8, I got a blue-screen error with the code 0xc000000f.
“I went into Recovery Mode via the BIOS.
“The automatic repair didn’t work. Then I went to Advanced Options, then to the Windows command prompt, to start trying hacks.”
So much for security, eh? Remotely-controlled machine bricking is as far as “security” goes. A lot of GNU/Linux users have experienced problems like the above, but in their case it was GNU/Linux that stopped working and Windows that got itself a monopoly.
Rosenberg concludes: “At this point, I just don’t care anymore. I will leave Windows 8 as is and continue ignoring it and using Linux 100 percent of the time as I usually do, and I’m very, very close to wiping Windows 8 entirely and single-booting Linux on this drive.
“This is bush-league, user-abusing bullshit. Microsoft, you messed up. Windows 8.1 upgrade via Microsoft Store gets an “F.”‘ █
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