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No x86 computer ships with locked bootloaders, it's part of the spec that you have to be able to disable SecureBoot in the BIOS.

Having said that, I don't think Linux will be a good fit for this device. People will first have to reverse-engineer the locking mechanism (which is done in software in Windows). That'll probably happen quickly, but then there's the issue of the hybrid graphics, which Linux has never played well with IME. That's assuming Linux drivers will be available for the dGPU at all; it's apparently a custom part from Nvidia and there may not even be a binary blob for them on Linux.

I don't think the release mechanism is in Windows, I think it's firmware. I heard you can't release it if your battery level is too low (a setting that might be changed or change-able) but I myself released the screen on a model unit while it was in a boot sequence.

> Having said that, I don't think Linux will be a good fit for this device. People will first have to reverse-engineer the locking mechanism (which is done in software in Windows).

The way MS has been acting lately it wouldn't even surprise me if they release Linux code for it, stating: People should use Windows because they want to, not because they have to, -anything else would be considered a failure.

I can dream... : )

This really is the problem. The amount of hardware wizardry going on here is going to be nearly impossible to support on GNU/Linux or any POSIX-like OS without support from Microsoft. Unfortunately, they don't "get" this, and they operate in a vacuum where they believe that the software they create is just the best thing for everyone.

I honestly have no idea how they operate under this presumption. Are they unaware of the millions of developers using Macbooks purely for this reason?

Why single out Microsoft here? Which other commercial vendor is going out of their way to enable bootstrapping OSS code on their platform?

For me, it's not about FOSS per se, more about the development environment that comes with it; a parent comment even mentioned a hackintosh. It's just that a Windows environment is so radically different from everything else out there that it makes it pretty impossible to realistically conduct work when all the tools are made for OSX and GNU/Linux.

I'm only addressing Microsoft with my comment because that's the topic of conversation here. Also, because they're specifically positioning themselves to convert Mac users, and IMO a notable portion of these users are developers who need the POSIX-like ecosystem.

Apple gave us boot camp and Windows drivers for MBPs

Note: Apple license forbids installation of Mac OS on non Apple hardware. If Microsoft did the same, Apple would not have been able to provide the drivers and boot camp.

One other thing. Apple NEEDED to ease the transition for Windows users. Without the above factors their laptop sales would be a fraction of what it is today

No x86 computer ships with locked bootloaders, it's part of the spec that you have to be able to disable SecureBoot in the BIOS.

Not for Windows 10 it's not!

I'm in the same camp as you. I really like this hardware but I don't want to use Windows. I don't think we'll see any good support for all of the modes it can operate in on other operating systems though at least not for a long while and then in very limited capacity.

Me not wanting to use Windows is more about unfamiliarity with what modern windows is like for a non MS centric developer. My previous experience dates back to the XP days where trying to do anything other than MS things was a chore. I _really_ like the surfacebook, maybe it's time to take another look at windows?

I think the biggest barriers to me would be the awesome package ecosystems in unix land (mysql, postgres and mongo are all a single "brew install" away!).

I also would miss working in bash in iTerm and/or Apple's Terminal. Unless they've done a lot of work on the command prompt, it'll be moving back into a world of pain.

Have you taken a look at Chocolatey and OneGet? I've been an avid Windows user as I grew tired of resolving Linux issues daily, and haven't really missed anything. Chocolately + ConEmu + Git for Windows (comes with ssh and most of the unix tools) + PowerShell for more complex scripts.

I'm very new to Windows development. How does this compare to something like babun?

Chocolatey. Powershell.

Windows 10 is quite nice -- actually the UX is better than OS X in my opinion -- but I really do sympathize. On my desktop machine at home, intended primarily for gaming, I sometimes run a Vagrant VM, and I have babun setup for when I want a Unix-like terminal but not a full VM (a preconfigured Cygwin distribution).

I like Windows 10 as well. I do wish that Microsoft would make a professional version of 10 with defaults set to whatever is most secure. The way the OS silently and continuously pushes data to the cloud makes it hard to recommend 10 for use where security matters (like in medicine, banking, etc...). It should also be easier to uninstall the Bing bloatware.

Windows 10 LTSB is what you would use if you want control over updates and don't need the app store on a PC used in an appliance setting:

http://blogs.windows.com/business/2015/01/30/windows-10-for-...

> For example, systems powering hospital emergency rooms, air traffic control towers, financial trading systems, factory floors, just to name a few, may need very strict change management policies, for prolonged periods of time. To support Windows 10 devices in these mission critical customer environments we will provide Long Term Servicing branches at the appropriate time intervals. On these branches, customer devices will receive the level of enterprise support expected for the mission critical systems, keeping systems more secure with the latest security and critical updates, while minimizing change by not delivering new features for the duration of mainstream (five years) and extended support (five years). On Long Term Servicing branches, customers will have the flexibility to deliver security updates and fixes via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) which allows full control over the internal distribution of updates using existing management solutions such as System Center Configuration Manager or to receive these updates automatically via Windows Update.

Actually, the control over updates isn't something I care about (we don't have anything that critical running on Windows). I can certainly understand how that's super important to some users though.

If I could easily (and permanently) remove the Bing apps and disable all the data sharing that was added for Cortana, I would be pretty happy.

I use netlimiter and glasswire to control what application connects to the internet. As for updates - turn off Windows update service

So, having just checked my Surface Book BIOS, I can speak to a few things:

- There is SecureBoot configuration, and it can be reconfigured and disabled.

- There are USB and PXE boot options available, so running Linux from those shouldn't be too difficult

- It looks like the 'MuscleWire' is controlled by firmware, not windows, as I was able to detach the device in BIOS outside the OS.

So give it a few months, I am sure someone will get debian on this thing!