Back in September, we wrote about a feature in Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) upcoming Windows 8 operating system called UEFI, or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, used to protect against hackers injecting malware into the pre-OS environment. We noted concerns from detractors about how the UEFI secure boot feature could be used to block the installation of non-Windows operating systems. To assuage concerns all around, we recommended that Microsoft specify the ability to disable secure boot as a mandatory requirement to obtain the Windows 8 certification.

Glyn Moody of Computerworld did some digging around, and found that the Windows Hardware Certification requirements for Windows 8 Certified Systems do indeed make it a requirement for manufacturers to implement the ability to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup. To make it clear that this pertains only to Intel-based Windows 8 systems, the same paragraph ended with a stern warning: "Disabling Secure MUST NOT be possible on ARM systems."

This discovery has led to some amount of outrage by users unhappy about the restrictions placed on ARM-based Windows 8 hardware. The prevailing reasoning appears to be that users have the right to do whatever they want with their hardware. Of course, the counterargument is that the iPad and many Android tablets weren't exactly created to facilitate the loading of a third-party operating system either. So why can't Microsoft do the same?

For more:
- check out this article at Computerworld
- check out this article at Ars Technica

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