Being advanced has its own pros and cons. And for the next generation of Windows 8 PCs, it’s going to be something very different. Following the news that the next generation of Windows 8 PCs will be equipped with a completely new booting specification known as UEFI or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, we were able to receive a rather shocking update about the UEFI’s supposed desirable feature. It appears that Microsoft has gone a little cold, although the UEFI specification is somewhat captivating, we’ve also heard that the interface could most likely include a special secure boot protocol that will be required to all Windows 8 users. Yes, it is a security feature that can not only preserve your PC’s software sanity but can also ward off infectious rootkits from entering into the system as well. But there’s a problem.

Since UEFI will be requiring keys for drivers and executable files to operate properly within the system, unfortunately, those keys can also be used to keep you from changing your default Windows 8 operating system into something entirely different - such as the Linux open source platform. Wait, did we just say that the next generation of Windows 8 PCs will be closing its doors to Linux? Apparently yes. At least that’s what we are being told. If this is true, then this will certainly disappoint both Linux fanatics and avid developers. Mathew Garrett of Red Hat expressed his thoughts and concerns about the update saying, “If a vendor key is installed on a machine, the only way to get code signed with that key is to get the vendor to perform the signing. A machine may have several keys installed, but if you are unable to get any of them to sign your binary then it won't be installable. Microsoft requires that machines conforming to the Windows 8 logo program and running a client version of Windows 8 ship with secure boot enabled.” Ooops, Microsoft could be making a big mistake. Or, looking on the other side of things, it can work the other way around. How about you? What can you say about this impending dilemma?