>There is no incentive whatsoever for manufacturers to give people control over their computers, and that is the crux.
I agree and I think this is the interesting part of the discussion (not the vilify Microsoft part). I guess don't see any reason why they wouldn't. They could have not allowed users to reinstall their OS or forbidden non HDD boot in the past by forcing it in the BIOS.
It's hard to explain because this is another step where they will have to provide the ability but to me, they could have done something like this at any point in time (the OEMs, that is) and they didn't. Will they now? I guess that remains to be seen, but I see it as an issue almost separate from UEFI. Maybe the UEFI folks could have made a stronger recommendation and required licensing that included forced terms of user key enrollment? I certainly would be in favor of that in the interest of user freedom!
I think the important point is that Secure Boot flips the default.
We always expect manufacturers to "do nothing" if they can get away with it. Pre-Secure Boot, doing nothing meant you could install whatever OS you wanted (subject to other hardware limitations, of course). Post-Secure Boot it will mean that you probably can't (even if there's a mandated escape hatch, how well will it be tested? And so on).
I agree and I think this is the interesting part of the discussion (not the vilify Microsoft part). I guess don't see any reason why they wouldn't. They could have not allowed users to reinstall their OS or forbidden non HDD boot in the past by forcing it in the BIOS.
It's hard to explain because this is another step where they will have to provide the ability but to me, they could have done something like this at any point in time (the OEMs, that is) and they didn't. Will they now? I guess that remains to be seen, but I see it as an issue almost separate from UEFI. Maybe the UEFI folks could have made a stronger recommendation and required licensing that included forced terms of user key enrollment? I certainly would be in favor of that in the interest of user freedom!