>On Mon, 9 May 2005, Ken Fuchs wrote: >> Please support Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) BIOSes such as >> LinuxBIOS, before it's too late. Future BIOSes will execute only >> authenticated executables. Will GNU/Linux be one of the authenticated >> operating systems? >Wow. That is a disturbing suggestion. Is that really in the works? >I'll tell you one thing for sure -- I won't buy any motherboards that >cannot run Linux. I wouldn't worry about it until Congress passes a law requiring it. Does anyone know when this is likely to happen? It may take a few years to "perfect" this restrictive technology and when it does, Congressmen will look like heroes when they pass a law requiring its use. (It would not allow spyware, viruses, malware of most types to be run which the computing public may welcome.) The freedom to distribute non-authenticated code would disappear. The next advance in malware would be malware that illegally circumvents authentication by either going around the barrier or pretending to be legally authenticated code. Sincerely, Ken Fuchs <kfuchs at winternet.com>