Fear of this is why I have been hoarding any computer that runs for a long time now
How long do we have before PCs get locked bootloaders and corporations ban installation of "non-approved" software? (for context: Google is restricting sideloading worldwide on Android ETA 2027)
Submitted 2 weeks ago by DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works to [deleted]
Comments
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Valmond@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Thinkcentre club stand uup !
I think I have 5 😐 or 6 IDK
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
I don’t know how useful 32 bit old computers are, if they run cryptography software they aren’t completely useless
Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
They’d have to completely kill the ability to build your own machine (the whole “IBM compatability” thing) and I don’t see that happening when almost every business and factory uses their own custom shit for specific niche reasons.
toddestan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not really. The pieces are already in place with UEFI and Secure Boot. All that would need to happen would be to force Secure Boot to be enabled, and only preload keys for an approved list of operating systems. With that, your fancy new motherboard may not be able to boot and run the OS of your choice.
discocactus@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Then all the software nerds become hardware nerds, and the cycle continues.
handsoffmydata@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Now? Doesn’t M$ still release the “S” mode version of Windows that only allow downloads via their “official App Store”?
xvertigox@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My girlfriends laptop came with S mode and holy shit, I just about threw it out the window. I knew Windows 11 would be dogshit but when I couldn’t run firefoxinstaller.exe I got so annoyed. I then spent ~30 minutes troubleshooting how to allow running fucking exes as the guides were all out of date, including the one that were a month old.
I’ve been using Linux and XP for a few years now and god damn does it feel gross to use Win11. Not having control over your own PC is disgusting.
handsoffmydata@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Windows machines make great Linux devices. Hope your gf likes her new Ubuntu laptop :)
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
You can convert to the home edition for free (for now at least)
Also you can disable secure boot and just install linux.
RedFrank24@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Absolutely not, that would never happen. Why? Because there’s a load of stuff that runs on Windows that is ancient and only exists as legacy software and never receives updates.
If anything, Windows is the last operating system that will have locked bootloaders, because if they do, there’s gonna be some bank somewhere in the world suing them because their ancient counting software was originally made for Windows 3.0 back in the day and Microsoft has had to build their entire operating system around making sure that software continues to run.
NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not to mention there will always be methods and hackers jailbreaking devices. Even Windows 11’s TPM requirements have been defeated, anything else will be too.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 weeks ago
Microsoft are smart enough to not piss off and destroy their entire business overnight, so you can count on it never being forced by them.
untorquer@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They certainly wouldn’t roll it out overnight but they’ve had their long term targets on OS as a service since Windows 8 and these things tend to come bundled.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 weeks ago
Nah, they know their limits. They will keep trying to make an optional locked down OS for regular users a thing, but there will always be a fully “unlocked” version available due to legacy software and the entire worlds reliance on it.
staph@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
This kind of stuff never happens overnight. It happens slowly, incrementally, and the people are never mad enough at too much sudden change to be motivated enough to do anything. People should feel good about the imposition of boundaries, and it helps that for the average user, the boundaries often result in a better user experience.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 weeks ago
I don’t think you guys understand that forcing windows to only run approved by Microsoft software would literally break the world as we know it. Microsoft know this. There’s no way around it.
Valmond@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Last time I used windows in a big corpo settings, there were so many things pudding off both us Devs but also IT.
Switch out a bad RAM stick? Spend an hour with IT.
Use a software? Spend an hour (or days) with IT
Compile your own software? Believe it or not, spend large amounts of time with IT
Like the compiler on a windows PC can’t work without different windows protection systems gets in the way, repeatedly. And then your executable, or some .d’ll just get wiped off the disk 😐🤷🏼♀️
I don’t think they do it intentionally, but big corpos don’t give a shit about their workers conditions, so if they were to enforce things (with backdoors ofc, so that if needed you can deactivate things, remember the unique installation code for windows like 95 or 98?) the grunts will just have to eat it up. And they would probably not have a much harder time, everything is already locked down hardware wise so they are used to all that jazz.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 weeks ago
None of your examples at the start I’d that comment make sense or are true.
Also you’re talking about corporate policies for businesses that use windows, not windows itself. Management of devices is one of the biggest reasons why windows is the only real option for big corporations.
angband@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
pissing off customers never stopped them for decades different versions of office programs ran side by side with no issues. they auto uninstall other versions of office automatically while stopping the install with a big pop up about compatibility issues.
this impacts all businesses using old versions of access programs alongside more new versions of office with newer installers. along with a byzantine licensing model with bizarre “incompatibilities” between the same year versions in different licensing channels, yeah tell me how microsoft won’t piss off corpo and government clients.
they seem to specialize in pissing off corpo and gov clients.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 weeks ago
Sounds like the businesses you’re talking about have incompetent IT staff.
Unlocking_Freedom@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Linux is quite well established now on home pc’s and servers to the dismay of Microsoft and Apple. I hated Secureboot , built into UEFI, during startup by verifying the digital signatures of firmware, drivers, and the OS bootloader. Reading into Deep State Mass surveillance helps:
Professorozone@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nothing says that Linux could eventually evolve into the same thing or fail to ever really function for the masses.
I_Clean_Here@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
And Android phones will get a workaround to fuck over Google, the genie is out of the bottle. This shit will never happen to “all PCs”
quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
The workaround has been around for as long as Android has been around: use AOSP and don’t use gapps
foggy@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I imagine this will actually create competition. Android is open source. It can be forked.
warm@kbin.earth 2 weeks ago
The question is, who wants to fork and maintain android? That's a massive undertaking, one that wouldn't seem worth it until it started getting meaningful percentages of market share.
localhorst@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
youtu.be/HUEvRyemKSg might be relevant.
Turns out some people can predict the future if they pay attention
NoodlePoint@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nah, PCs are easier to install anything we want. Corps trying to lock out Linux would be like shooting themselves in the foot.
Phones are what they would like to get a tighter leash on, because it has become a device that nearly everyone buys more than PCs due to them being more usable and cheaper, and thus a bigger revenue channel.
crimsonpoodle@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
I mean they could always use VMs or docker vs locking the actual base level OS
NoodlePoint@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah, but that’s not for everyone else, unfortunately.
mrfriki@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I see Apple doing it, not because they are Apple but because they control the whole manufacturing process, so they wouldn’t need to negotiate with third parties. That’s what has happened in the mobile industry. In the PC side of things you would need to sit in a table: the CPU, OS, and probably GPU and MOBO manufacturers to negotiate, and knowing how greedy they all are, I don’t see it happening anytime soon. But hey, anything is possible in this dystopian society we live in.
untakenusername@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
17 and a half weeks
HubertManne@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
nah. 28 likely. I mean later.
Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
!Remindme 4 January 2026
HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Eh, just means it isn’t plug and play. Once you have the hardware, you are the admin.
It may get tougher, but it’ll never be impossible.
tempest@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Tell they to the Intel management engine or secure platform module
HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Hi intel management system, you can be thrown into abnormal states where you sit there eating glue.
ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online 2 weeks ago
I have just one year before I pay off my phone and I want to get a degoogled phone. I wanted my current phone degoogled… but due to the breakage of my previous phone it was a bit of an emergency and I didn’t have time to do proper research.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Honestly just get a fairphone. They are repairable, the work well with custom roms and their devs even contribute drivers straight to the linux kernel so the support for proper linux on those phones is great too. You won’t find more freedom than that on a phone.
pfr@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
I’m honestly kinda sick of this. Sure, Google’s decision to try to lock down their devices to prevent installing unsigned apps is concerning for FOSS. But can we ask just calm down a bit?
Linux isn’t going anywhere, and neither is hardware that supports it. Yes, is possible that Microsoft or even Intel (now that Trump has bought into it) might try to do some sketchy shit. But the open hardware market is starting to look promising. Look at MNT, System76, Pine, Framework etc…
I agree times are scary and everything is looking kinda bleak, but your best option right now is to completely boycot (as much as possible) Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft etc. Just stop using their shit.
Buy up old PC’s, turn them into home servers and self host as many services as you can.
I’m confident GrapheneOS will continue and we will still have f-droid after 2027. But I’m an optimist.
DebatableRaccoon@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Graphene? Meaning the OS where you have to have a specific range of devices that aren’t even very good for the sort of people who’d want an OS like that? I’d most likely be on Graphene already if it wasn’t for that annoying as hell limitation.
quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
Just sub what they said with “Graphene, Calyx, iode, etc” and its true
Luffy879@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Google is not restricting Sideloading.
Its the same way Apple is doing it. You just need to buy a Signaturen from them via ID, and you have to sign every app.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
They are not restricting it, they are just adding these restrictions to doing it
nul9o9@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
They’ll have the power to revoke the ability to install any app for any reason. On top of the chilling affect on developing foss apps.
Danitos@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
And what will happen to apps that Google doesn’t like and removes the dev signature? i.e., Revanced
Tuuktuuk@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
I would say this is one of the things EU is doing quite a good job.
It would be difficult making Linux de facto illegal in EU. It could happen but most likely it won’t.
Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Wasn’t amd pluton or something going to do that?
I just bought a new and CPU and Chinese motherboard and I could still install Ubuntu without problems
floo@retrolemmy.com 2 weeks ago
As long as it takes for the corporate manufacturer trace what you’re doing here and use this post to kill you
sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 weeks ago
An interesting take for somebody shit posting on fedi...
floo@retrolemmy.com 2 weeks ago
Interesting because I made a valid point, and your best comeback is gaslighting a tantrum.
Clbull@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Mmmm, Linux
surph_ninja@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That’s the whole intention of requiring TPM for Windows 11. It’s coming soon.
They also banned Kaspersky in the states because they weren’t whitelisting state malware.