Bonum Certa Men Certa

Vista 8 Endorsements Are Fake, Microsoft Decided to Break Rather Than Make

Oprah
Photo by Bill Ebbesen



Summary: The multi-billion-dollar astroturf campaign for Vista 8 and Microsoft's UEFI-encumbered hardware are both failing, but for new hardware with UEFI there are still issues

Oprah is doing it again, offering fake endorsements for Microsoft, this time because Vista 8 is out. It is not just a fake endorsement because it is paid for; Oprah does not even use Vista 8.



Mr, Pogson and others say that Vista 8 might not get much love in the German public sector because hardware with UEFI is a no-go area based on the rules. To put it crudely:

As M$ insists OEMs ship UEFI “Secure Boot” enabled, the German government seemingly intends to ban M$’s OS from now on. That’s great. Trusting M$ with any IT is insane.


Sam Varghese, who has been actively against UEFI, shows how to install Vista 8 without UEFI while noting:

At the gates of Microsoft, there are numerous competing Windows versions now almost falling over each other as they strive for marketshare.


The Windows franchise is dying, so Microsoft plays hardball with hardware keys. As Sam Dean put it:

Linux users who have tracked each step in the endless saga surrounding the Windows 8 UEFI Secure Boot scheme may be disappointed to hear that a promised workaround is delayed. Last year, in the post "Will Windows 8 Lock Linux Out of PCs?," I discussed a Microsoft methodology for ultra-fast booting of Windows 8 PC through a specification called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). Linux users cried foul over it, because UEFI makes it technically possible for a hardware manufacturer to deliver a Windows 8 machine that won't boot an alternative operating system.

Finally, The Linux Foundation came up with a plan "to enable Linux (and indeed all Open Source based distributions) to continue operating as Secure Boot enabled systems roll out." We covered plans for the workaround here, but now it is confirmed that it will be delayed.


In other words, Linux is being excluded. Just what Microsoft needed ahead of Christmas. Today in Birmingham I went to the Apple Store (inquiring about a gift for a friend who insisted on it) and it was flooded; it sure seems like Vista 8 has driven many people to alternatives. Let's make sure that disgruntled Windows users choose to install GNU/Linux rather than buy Apple-branded PCs.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Register MS: "AI" More Than 80 Times in One Article. But It's Not an Article, It's Sponsored Keyword-stuffed Page.
The Register MS is being paid to actively promoted this scheme
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 09, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, July 09, 2026
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 08, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 08, 2026
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 07, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 07, 2026
Links 07/07/2026: Microsoft Cuts Doom "id Software" and Turkey Detains Journalists
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/07/2026: Old Computer Challenge (OCC) and Hardware Tests
Links for the day
A Break From the Routine
What matters is what whistleblowers keep feeding information to us
SLAPP Censorship - Part 132 Out of 200: When You Cannot Pay a Million Pounds (1,335,520.00 United States Dollar) to Lawyers But Have a Strong Community
Techrights compensates for its fiscal poverty with a wealth of community spirit
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Czech Mate: EPO Kingmaker or Merely a Pawn in the Game?
recent "missions" of the EPO President
Fame is Not the Goal
"Fame" kills
Mental Health in Free Software Communities
clearly there is a subject that merits debate and it ought not be a taboo anymore
The Era of Sponsored Spam
There is no "era of AI", there is era of BRIBES to PRETEND there is an "era of AI"