On Tue May 02, 2006 at 09:46:58 +1000, Erik de Castro Lopo wrote: >Benno wrote: > >> But Bitlocker is a piece of software you have to first install and >> then turn on, not something that comes installed and enabled on the >> machine when you buy it. > >The vast majority of machines sold in the western world come with >windows pre-installed. > >> There is no reason I can see, in theory, why you couldn't >> >> 1/ Turn off TPM boot >> 2/ Install linux >> 3/ Turn TPM back on checksum-ing the new bootloader. > >This raises the bar for people trying to get Linux for the >fist time.
I'm sure the Ubuntu install process will make all this transparent if it is possible. >> In any case, my main points were that: >> >> - Bitlocker is an optional feature the you have to enable. > >Not if if comes pre-installed on the machine you buy. This >is the rule, not the exception. > >> - The "frustration" referred to in the original register article was >> simply about accessing encrypted data, not about not being able to >> dual boot. > >I remain unconvinced. Micorsoft would love to make Linux difficult >to install and would love to make Linux something that can only be >run inside a virtual machine running on windows. > I just really doubt that a feature which is so difficult to use and can mean losing all you data if you forget a key or password is going to be enabled by default for home PCs -- of course I guess we will see when Vista finally comes out. I'll buy you a beer if it comes with encryption enabled by default :). Of course corporate setting is totally different. Is it that bad if people are running Linux inside a virtual machine running on windows anyway? (Or people running Windows inside a virtual machine on a Linux machine?) I have a feeling we will end up with a secure hypervisor and then running either Linux or windows on both on top of that, but that is just a guess. Maybe I am underestimating the problem because I've never bothered will dual-booting, and underestimate the use of it. I've found the best path to new Linux users is to first ween them off Office (ooffice), IE (firefox) etc, which can be done while they still run windows, and then once that happens, get them to install Linux with the same app on their next computer. But I guess that doesn't work for gamers. Benno -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
