Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Breaks the Web and Linux

Coffee time



Summary: How Microsoft uses 'security' to exclude Web sites and GNU Linux distributions

Microsoft does not comply with the Web. It does not adhere to standards, either. It rejects fine keys and prominent Web folks complain about it.



One writer explains that "[a]s of Oct. 9, 2012, longer key lengths are mandatory for all digital encryption certificates that touch Windows systems.

"That must make Microsoft some new foes.""This means that Internet Explorer will refuse to access websites that do not have RSA keys with minimum lengths of 1024 bits. You won't be able to exchange encrypted emails, run ActiveX controls or install applications on Windows. This isn't new, as Microsoft started making announcements about this well over a year ago."

Then there is this about Microsoft blocking Flash based on a private whitelist: "Yeah you read that right. I just received an interesting email from Brightcove (the video delivery guys) about issues with their Flash based solution and Windows 8 running the new Internet Explorer 10."

That must make Microsoft some new foes.

These things are actually less malicious than plugging proprietary software hooks into Linux to discourage use of Free and open source virtualisation even in GNU/Linux, not to mention UEFI, which Debian agrees is a very malicious move (there is no solution to it yet). Microsoft is knowingly complicating the process of installing GNU/Linux and ways exist for spinning it as benign or beneficial.

James Bottomley, who used to work on some Microsoft stuff on behalf of his former employer Novell (e.g. on Hyper-V), speaks of a new workaround that bloggers try to grasp.

Pogson states correctly that this should not be legal. Stallman agrees. To quote Pogson: "I don’t like any solution that depends on M$. If they can revoke that key, GNU/Linux falls down. They have messed up keys before either deliberately or through incompetence. Someone should sue M$ over this mess. It’s clearly anti-competitive. Also, this doesn’t look like a solution for servers."

Why should anyone be asking Microsoft for permission to use a computer which does not even have Windows?

"Pogson states correctly that this should not be legal."News about it sometimes misses the point, but Varghese writes: "Fifteen days from today, Windows 8 will go on sale; only hardware that is certified to work with this system will be able to boot it, with signed keys being used to determine whether a genuine system is being booted.

"This will put those who boot other operating systems at a disadvantage. Given this, the Linux Foundation has come up with a means of bypassing secure boot to enable users of open source operating systems to continue to boot on hardware certified for Windows 8."

He later criticises this, as he did several times in the past. It is an important issue that even conferences cover. Here is what one UEFI apologist wrote: "The plan for supporting UEFI Secure Boot in Fedora is still pretty much as originally planned, but it's dependent upon building a binary which has the Fedora key embedded, and then getting that binary signed by Microsoft. Easy enough for us to do, but not necessarily practical for smaller distributions. There's a few possible solutions for them."

Techrights' position on this is that UEFI is anticompetitive and antitrust should therefore be pursued. Let is all remind us that there is no reformed Microsoft, it is still the same unethical corporation.

Recent Techrights' Posts

To IBMers, IBM Has Failed and is Fast Becoming a Book of Jokes and One-Word Punchlines
How else can one make it obvious that IBM is circling down the drain?
Newer is Not Better, Lunar Edition
Maybe in 57 years (2083, after all these wars) we'll managed to launch a capsule with a human and a dog above the stratosphere again
"AI Revolution" Was a Lie: Microsoft CEO Admits What He Calls "AI" is Sometimes Sloppy and Microsoft Admits That Slop is for "Entertainment Purposes Only" (Not for Any Serious Work)
if it gets "memory-holed", we can bring it up again and again
Social Control Media is Not a Viable Business Model
The future of the Web might not be the Web
From Datacentres Boom to Actual Booms That Target Datacentres, Now Struggling to Justify Humongous Energy and Water Consumption
Datacentres that are used for mindless "entertainment" (as Microsoft calls it) like slop are not a priority at this time
Gemini Links 07/04/2026: Aircraft Lift Force, Editor History, and Consumer Hardware Stagnation
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 06, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, April 06, 2026
What Matters is Software Freedom, Not the Brands
The important thing is to speak about Software Freedom
Wikileaks is About to Turn 20
~2 days ago it turned 19.5
The Cloud of Smoke
Will 2026 be the year that "The Cloud" openly confesses the risks it brings about?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 36 Out of 200: Claim KB-2024-003529 in a Nutshell (Microsoft Employee Does Terrible Things, Then Sues the Reporter in Another Continent)
It commences with more of an overview
Gemini Links 06/04/2026: Solar Panel Story and Centralisation
Links for the day
"Free Speech, Free Press": What the World Needs to Improve
Darkness breeds corruption
IBM prioritises a "lot of smoke and hype and use of trending buzzwords"
IBM can pretend all it wants things are fine
GAFAM Paying the Price for Pursuing US Military Money (Taxpayers' Money as 'Stimulus' With Strings Attached)
The "cloud" in cloud computing is a cloud of smoke
Observing Slop's Demise
If energy becomes more scarce, then one rare/side perk (or upside) will be slop companies screaming for lifeboats
Links 06/04/2026: Crackers Breached the European Commission, Why "Old Way of Campaigning Won’t Cut It Anymore"
Links for the day
Enron Versus NVIDIA (the Cost of Circular Financing, or Funding Your Own Customers to Buy Your Products) - “The Inventory Paradox” or “The Vibe Revenue Admission”
Round-tripping (finance)
You Know "The Economy" is Fake When 6 Months After Oracle Says Debt-Saddled 'Open' 'AI' (Slop) Will Pay It $300,000,000,000 Oracle Says It Must Lay Off 30,000 Workers at 6AM
Oracle is in deep debt, which increased at a pace of almost 4 billion dollars per month lately
Free Software Will Outlive GAFAM
GAFAM is overhyped
Techrights Was Further Decentralised Three Years Ago
In 2020 we began working on IPFS stuff
The Military Attacks on Dubai Internet City as Reminder That GAFAM Isn't Safe (Disregard the "Nobody Gets Fired for Buying GAFAM" Mindset)
These are all realistic and foreseeable scenarios that GAFAM sceptics have long warned about
The Wars Aren't Ending, Now We See GAFAM Facilities Being Bombed
This is becoming a tech issue
Links 06/04/2026: Turning 34, Throwing Things Away, and Printing in GNU/Linux
Links for the day
Links 06/04/2026: Ex-Microsoft Engineer Explains Why Azure Fails, Germany Prepares for War
Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part XI - EPO Strike Enters Its Second Week, EPO Sheds Off Qualified Staff to Make Way for Nepotists
More than six months ago the "Cocaine Communication Manager" got arrested for cocaine use
Another Microsoft Outlook Downtime
Microsoft has sloppy code, it's not something suitable for mission-critical things
Week 2 of April IBM Layoffs Accelerate Based on Rumours
"Heard about Layoff at IBM"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 05, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, April 05, 2026
Culture of Harassment Inside Microsoft, Says Former Director at Microsoft
listen to Microsoft insiders
Drone Strikes on Amazon (GAFAM) Datacentres Highlight Azure's Miniscule Share
Azure is failing
SLAPP Censorship - Part 35 Out of 200: How to Make ~10,000 Pound Sterling (13,220.50 United States Dollars) by Copy-Pasting and Editing 10 Pages
Today it's Easter Sunday, so we'll keep this part relatively short
Gemini Links 05/04/2026: Artemis II Mission Tracker, Meditation on Copyright, Alhena 5.5.5, "Gemini as the Final Frontier of Human Cognition"
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Falls to All-Time Low of ~60% in Switzerland, GNU/Linux Among Top Gainers
What will it take for mainstream media (not just geeks' site) to cover it?
Mainstream Media on "Practical Survivalism"
Suffice to say, panic buying begets more panic and price surges
Cloud Computing as a Cloud of Smoke (Your Hosting Provider is a "Legitimate" Military Target)
When a French datacentre went up in flames people joked that the "cloud" meant a cloud of smoke
Andreas Tille Congratulates Sruthi Chandran Before the Election for Debian Project Leader (DPL) is Even Over
Andreas Tille, the current Debian Project Leader (DPL) who has been in this role for nearly 24 months
When You Try to Change the World for the Better and Somehow They Find a Way to Say You Are the Villain
Don't be a fool. Don't fall for inversions of narratives.
Slop Was a Flop and Energy Crisis Will be Slop's Final Blow
Today we see no slopfarms in Google News
Links 05/04/2026: "Taiwanese Airlines to Hike Fuel Surcharges 157%" and Openly Racist Voter Suppression Starts in the US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2026: Playing with Hyprland and Migrating Antenna Filters
Links for the day
Links 05/04/2026: "Confidential Computing" as Proprietary Bundle of False Promises and "The Web Is an Antitrust Wedge"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 04, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, April 04, 2026