Hispalinux (in Spanish), a representative organization for Linux users in Spain, has lodged a complaint against Microsoft to the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body. According to a report in Reuters, the complaint was filed today, and targeted the unholy agreement between Microsoft and hardware vendors re UEFI Secure Boot.
I’ve always thought that the implementation of UEFI Secure Boot in Windows 8 has very little to do with security, but more along the lines of cementing Microsoft’s monopoly. Why anybody or group waited this long to file a legal complaint against Microsoft is beyond me. But I’m happy that some group finally decided to take the right action.
The question now is, what’s next? If this complaint was brought by a group here in the US, I wouldn’t expect anything to happen, but knowing how seriously the EU takes consumer protection, some action is forthcoming. Just recently, the group levied a fine of $731 million against Microsoft for failing to comply with an agreement regarding its Web browser .
Hispalinux’s complaint called the implementation of UEFI Secure Boot an “obstruction mechanism” and “a de facto technological jail for computer booting systems.”
I couldn’t agree more. Now, what’s it going to take for a group in the US of A to take the same action against Microsoft?
Agreed. UEFI has no real technical merits, other than as a method of obstructing Microsoft’s competitors. The proof of this is in the methods used and disclosed by Microsoft in licensing the UEFI certification that doesn’t function as advertised, and is poorly documented… some would say to obfuscate the fact that Microsoft never intended for any of their competitors to legitimately be able to use UEFI under the specs and details of it’s release. Microsoft has repeated shown itself to be a criminal organization run by scam artists, and they should be treated as such.
I agree completely. The lack of response surprised me, too. I hope Hispalinux has success either limiting or getting rid of UEFI Secure Boot.