Bonum Certa Men Certa

Red Hat Was Wrong About UEFI, Failed to Ask the Users

UEFI? Et tu?

Jim Whitehurst
Credit: Red Hat @ Flickr



Summary: Red Hat was not open about its decision to collaborate with Microsoft and consequently it upset many FOSS proponents, choosing to ignore their rationale

Red Hat's and Fedora's UEFI decision was a bad one because it does not improve security. A Fedora member seems to suggest that it's a matter of convenience versus freedom and principles, which makes a poor excuse. To quote:



A big flame does not end suddenly, it continues with echoes and as echoes go further away, the more ridiculous they get. You can learn, for example, why do Fedora needs signed binaries for UEFI with Secure Boot: because is too hard for users to enter BIOS and change a setting there.


What about other distributions of GNU/Linux? Red Hat's action legitimises Microsoft's anti-competitive tactics and leaves all but Red Hat uncovered. Fedora members who are Red Hat employees complain about this piece for merely daring not to drink Red hat's Kool-Aid (link to Google spyware, aka "Plus", omitted). To quote Noyes:

Microsoft Loves Linux - as Long as It's Not Red Hat



[...]

However, there's one major Linux player that's sort of getting left out of the lovefest. It's enterprise Linux leader Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) and its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), which has to sit by while other distributions, including RHEL community clone CentOS and market competitors SUSE and Ubuntu, get first-class treatment in Microsoft's Azure cloud.

This wouldn't be the first time we've seen Microsoft look to the "other" Linux distributions as leverage against Red Hat. Though some may be critical of Microsoft for its apparent selective Linux approach, the bottom line is that Redmond is among the broadest supporters of Linux in the industry today. HP (NYSE: HPQ) has historically been among the most aggressive, backing unpaid Linux distributions such as CentOS, Debian and Ubuntu -- which is also a paid Linux option with support from Canonical.


Noyes was not alone in her criticism. If Red Hat would like to just shut its ear and shout, people will lose respect for it. Perhaps it's not too late for Red Hat to admit it made a mistake; it's probably too late to retract. Why didn't Red Hat approach the public? There was no poll or survey, no referendum on the subject. This is Open Source? For a company that claims to champion the open source way (they have a site, opensource.com) it is proving to be as open on decisions as SUSE/Novell was. It's not even meritocracy (like Canonical's). Nobody was asked.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Free Speech Around the World is Curtailed in the Name of "Protecting Us"
We have spent many years speaking about how to combat this trend
Recent Site Changes and Looking Towards 2026
In November 2026 we turn 20
Mozilla Firefox is Probably Already Below 2% in the UK (United Kingdom)
LibreWolf identifies as "Firefox" by default
When You Don't Want to Tinker Much You Just Use GNU/Linux, Not Windows
With GNU/Linux upgrades are possible and, failing that, one can just back up the home directory and copy it "back into" the new OS
Coming Soon, the Next Chapter About the Crisis of the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
We're far from done
Expect GNU/Linux to Rise Sharply in China
But Red China won't trust Red Hat (IBM), which works for the Pentagon and keeps the "secret sauce" for its OS secret (just what Americans accused China of doing with its distros)
 
Links 17/03/2025: "Badly Misled About Covid" and "Gag of America"
Links for the day
The Lie or Half-Truth of Clownflare (or Equivalents) Improving Things
It may seem "cheap" (temporarily) and "fast", but that's just bait
Enshittification of Online Media
Now more than ever we must fight for independent press
War Readiness Means Removing Every Windows Installation and CALEA-Compliant Equipment
Finland is vulnerable for a whole bunch of reasons
Reporting Facts is Not a Privacy Violation
Techrights has long valued and defended privacy
In the Russian Federation (Russia), Microsoft Isn't Even the 1%
the government builds "homegrown" (not pertinent parts of them) distros with which to replace Microsoft, not just Windows
Gemini Links 17/03/2025: "Hack the Planet", Klingnauer Stausee, and Enshittification
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 16, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, March 16, 2025
Slow News Cycles Are Part of a Trend, Technology Gravitating Towards Rich People's Interests
This issue isn't limited to the Web
Facebook REALLY, REALLY, R E A L L Y Does Not Want You to Read This Book
It would be a CRIME to read it
Illuminating Microsoft's Code of Conduct (CoC) Hypocrisy
Oppressor victimhood? Leadership claimed by the worst offenders?
Planet Ubuntu - or Ubuntu Planet - Has an LLM Slop Problem (Called Faizul "Piju" 9M2PJU)
Does investigative reporting have any future at all?
Links 16/03/2025: Handwriting Comeback and "MElon’s Attack on U.S.A.I.D."
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/03/2025: "Differences Distance" and "Dopamine-addicted Pigeon"
Links for the day
Links 16/03/2025: American Press Under Attack, "France Offers to Take in US Scientists"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/03/2025: Threats to Canada and How to Process News Online
Links for the day
Links 16/03/2025: Growing Tariff Hostilities and Social Media Surveillance
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 15, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, March 15, 2025
Gemini Links 15/03/2025: Sleeping in March, Headless Raspberry Pi 4
Links for the day
Links 15/03/2025: Hey Hi (AI) Hype Waning, Microsoft and Apple Ridiculed for Vapourware
Links for the day
Many Reports About Microsoft Layoffs Are LLM Slop Based on Other LLM Slop (From Microsoft-controlled LLMs That Downplay the Layoffs or Give Badly Outdated Data)
The LLM slopfarms also dilute/derank actual news about Linux by pushing Microsoft Azure instead; it's a spamfest!
When You Expose Corporate Crimes, Misconduct and Lies They Harasses and Troll You. Then You Write About the Harassment and Trolling and They Allege It's "All Personal".
protect women's safety
Gemini Links 15/03/2025: Bandcamp and DST
Links for the day
Links 15/03/2025: Albania TikTok Ban, No Skinnerboxes in Danish Schools
Links for the day
Sierra Leone: Android Up to Record Highs, Windows Falls to Record Lows of Almost 5% (15 Years Ago It Was 100%)
This is what happens when about 83% of Web requests come from mobile
Margarita Manterola (marga, Google) & Debian DebConf13 Swiss venue intrigue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 14, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, March 14, 2025