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Comment by Analemma_ | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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!

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