"Despite the best efforts of Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, and the Linux Foundation, booting Linux on UEFI Secure Boot Windows 8 PCs continues to be a problem . The easiest way to avoid Windows 8 lock-in is to disable UEFI Secure Boot from your system before it starts to boot. However, this option may not be available on all motherboard; isn't available at all on Windows RT devices, such as the Surface; "
There are also more hoops the Linux vendors have to jump that are explained in the article:
Also, what I didn't understand myself - is the $99 Fedora has to pay for the key just something they have to pay once? Or do they have to pay $99 for every single machine? Because that would be pretty ridiculous if Microsoft managed to make Linux as expensive as Windows licenses, through UEFI.
The $99 is a one time fee.. but frankly even that is absurd. Why should fedora pay microsoft so that I can use my presumably IBM compatible dell PC? It is madness.
They could also sue all manufacturers for anti-competitiveness for not allowing Linux to be run
But I think the $99 is cheaper and better (given what some idiot bios developers do - remember (IIRC) one link here on HN where the bios would look for 'Microsoft Windows' or 'Red Hat Linux' on boot entries?)
This is not only occasional but common. ACPI tables are notoriously broken in many bioses and Linux in fact has to do a bunch of horrible workarounds in order to get working tables regularly.
There are also more hoops the Linux vendors have to jump that are explained in the article:
http://www.zdnet.com/linux-foundation-uefi-secure-boot-key-f...
Also, what I didn't understand myself - is the $99 Fedora has to pay for the key just something they have to pay once? Or do they have to pay $99 for every single machine? Because that would be pretty ridiculous if Microsoft managed to make Linux as expensive as Windows licenses, through UEFI.