The Spanish have good reasons to oppose Microsoft’s mandating that computer hardware vendors implement UEFI
A couple of days ago a group comprised of Linux supporting Spaniards filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft. One that probably many people feel is actually long overdue for the reason they filed it.
The group which goes by the name, Hispalinux, has a membership of about 8,000 people that have come together to raise a claim that Microsoft has made it problematic for users to swithch to Linux or any other OS on the machine they’ve purchased. Hispalinux says that there are a number of “competitive products” such as Linux that “offer much greater security against the threat of viruses, with a technical basis and without generating effective design incompatibilities or impediments to interoperability between systems.”. HispaLinux also claims that UEFI is not a “technical achievement” of any sort, but merely a means for Microsoft to maintain their ”dominant position.”
It’s been known for quite some time now that UEFI is almost being used as a blocking technique by Microsoft. They’ve mandated that any computer manufacturer that wants to claim Microsoft Windows “certified” must come with UEFI installed and enabled. Unfortunately for most manufacturers, they still prize the Microsoft certified labels and therefore many unwillingly went ahead and locked down the systems to get it.
In a blog post, HispaLinux confirms the notion held by Microsfot UEFI opponents. They say that:
“the essential novelty of Windows 8 is that it forces a partnership with hardware vendors for the system to boot computers, become de facto control of Microsoft, creating a new mechanism of obstruction unfair competition, such that prevents boot directly into the computer any operating system other than Windows 8. Thus, any program to operate in the market where Microsoft has a dominant position must have the consent of Microsoft.”
There’s a reason Spain is also so adamant about this UEFI issue though and the problems it causes for many people to get rid of Windows and install things such as Linux if they so choose.
Spain already has a pretty large community of intelligentsia that use and promote the use of Linux, but Spain has also been having serious economic issues for a number of years now. In one report we did in September of last year, “Spain’s unemployment rate rose to 24.6% between April 2012 and June 2012” The Edmonton Journal even reported today though that, “Spain’s central bank offers grim forecast: more recession, higher unemployment” and that “the jobless rate would rise to 27.1 per cent by the end of this year, from a current 26 per cent.” A windows license significantly drives up the cost of a computer purchase, and that too is something the Spanish population in general surely cannot afford at the moment.