Quick update about Windows 8 and Linux

An ARTICLE by Sam Dean sheds some light on this subject, which raised concerns from Linux users who could be at risk of not being able to run their favorite OS on Windows 8 certified hardware. Sam shares portions of a response to those lockout claims from Microsoft´s Tony Mangefeste. As can be read from the excerpt below, it sounds like Microsoft has no interest in limiting what end users are able to do with their machines:

"At the end of the day, the customer is in control of their PC. Microsoft’s philosophy is to provide customers with the best experience first, and allow them to make decisions themselves... For the enthusiast who wants to run older operating systems, the option is there to allow you to make that decision."

This is by no means guarantee that installing Linux on those machines will be smooth sailing, because while Microsoft may not enforce those policies, they may recommend them, or hardware manufacturers may decide to follow that route on their own. I can think of reasons why that would be the case, such as potentially simpler support scope if they stick to Microsoft´s recommendations and limit other options.

Anyways, I guess we will have to wait and see, but Microsoft´s position is at least not as threatening as it first sounded like. Not a bad start.