Intel's EFI: Hidden Threat to Computing Freedom?

Now i'm no expert in this field, but from what i've been reading, the industry is shifting towards Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and EFI means bad news for the future of fully open machines. First of all, it will make current fully-free BIOS replacements like coreboot useless as well as always requiring a piece of proprietary binary-only code to build a free BIOS on top of EFI. It will trap certain OS operations to an EFI-based control system meaning that the OS doesn't necessarily own the platform. On top of all that, EFI can control many things that effectively make it a "DRM BIOS". All of this comes with added complexity and, as expressed by Linus Torvalds, without real advantages. Linus also refers to EFI as "this other Intel brain-damage (the first one being ACPI)", and this is why i stick to AMD =]

This excerpt from an interview with Ronald G. Minnich from FOSDEM explains in more detail the dangers of EFI:

What are your thoughts on the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)?

I have spoken with the EFI authors at length. They make no secret of the fact that a "core value" of EFI is the preservation of intellectual property related to chipset programming and internal architecture. To put it another way, EFI is dedicated to the preservation of "Hard" hardware (as defined above), and the provision of binary interfaces and subsystems to BIOS vendors and others.

It is not really possible to build a full open-source BIOS if EFI is involved. The Tiano system, which Intel claims is an open source BIOS, can not be used to build a BIOS unless it is attached to proprietary, binary-only BIOS code provided by a vendor.

Another important thing to realize about EFI is that it also contemplates enabling chipset features that will trap certain OS operations to an EFI-based control system running in System Management Mode. In other words, under EFI, there is no guarantee that the OS owns the platform.

Accesses to IDE I/O addresses, or certain memory addresses, can be trapped to EFI code and potentially examined and modified or aborted. Many see this as an effort to build a "DRM BIOS".

I am not sure what the real intent of this design is, but is is a real concern in secure environments (such as those found in governments, banks, and large search engine companies). A number of vendors and users have told me that they are not sure they can ship an EFI system they are willing to trust in a secure environment.

I've taken this to Dell's IdeaStorm, asking them to resist EFI, but i'm not sure where else to go and how concerned we should all be about this. Thousands of customers called out for Dell to put effort into adopting a free BIOS replacement for a number of reasons, but Dell's john_h has informed us that their "BIOS teams have investigated, but no plans to do this. Most of the industry is moving towards using uEFI", clearly not a pro-consumer move. Please vote on it and let me know in the comments what you think of these issues with EFI.

Why won't Dell listen to its customers?

Dear Dell,

My family has bought and owned Dell machines for as long as i can remember but we and many others are getting tired of not being listened to. Please forgive us all for feeling abandoned. We were all overjoyed when IdeaStorm was announced and we could post the kinds of things we wanted there, but Dell only seems to be half-listening, and only keeping us partially in the loop. Immediately after it was released, thousands of voices called out for GNU/Linux and free software. Dell made a huge step with their Ubuntu offering, and we were very very thankful.

Why now, has Dell seemed to stop listening? Many requests with tons of support not only haven't been fulfilled, but haven't even been acknowledged with any sort of response. For example, this post ( http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/72... ) with 28260 points simply says "Under Review" ...as it has been for almost a year. This was simply a request to give people a choice, but is Dell incapable of letting people know they have a choice? I really hope your limited Ubuntu offer wasn't just for publicity, because if so, you will be losing a lot more customers than you gained. Please, show us your serious about providing your customers with what they want-- with a choice.

People around the world have been calling for your Ubuntu offer, so why has it only been made available in certain areas? Why isn't Ubuntu available on all machines that it works on? Why haven't you responded to your customers? Are you truly at the hands of Microsoft? This would be bad for customers, and bad for you in the long run. I, and many others, truly feel wronged here.

The 10th most popular idea on the entire site asks for Coreboot pre-installed on Dell machines. I know if Dell did this, i'd never consider buying a machine from anywhere else, but Dell hasn't even responded to the idea even though it gained it's popular long ago. Even the #2 most popular post, asking for OpenOffice installed by default, hasn't been replied to! The issue has been so bad that people are making posts asking for Dell to listen and at least keep us in the loop!

We all thought that Dell would be more open after IdeaStorm gave us a more direct voice. You know what your customers want, but you simply ignore them. As you should notice, since you have stopped listening, many have stopped speaking, and soon you will begin to lose us. We all really appreciate what you have done so far, but it seems like you are backing out. Why aren't you serving your customers? If you don't change this trend you're going to lose me and i know many other customers are saying the same thing.

We're not asking for a lot. At the very least we want to be kept in the loop. We want to be able to have a dialogue with you. This isn't about you granting us everything we ask for-- it's about communicating with us. We want more than a "yes" or "no," an "under review" or "reviewed." Tell us what influences your decisions, and allow us respond. Why is it that the only defense i keep hearing for you is that it isn't you're business to care? I think that even you'll agree that's not a very good reason.

I'm not sure where else to go with this. I can't figure out why this isn't a priority for Dell. Please Dell, PLEASE, don't abandon us!

The Final Push: Linux in Stores

Over the past few years, the free software movement has made great progress, and it's constantly gaining momentum. With free software advancing at an exponential rate, we are not far from, and not necessarily in terms of time, Linux being as common as Windows, and then beating it. When we reach the breaking point, consider the free software movement unstoppable :)

People assert different reasons why free software hasn't completely replaced proprietary software yet, one of which is gaming. Currently, most games are released only for Windows, but Wine is quickly becoming able to run those games in Linux until the time comes when most games are released to run natively in Linux. The biggest issue right now certainly should not be games since at this point the best target for Linux, in my opinion, are people with very simple computer needs. That isn't to say that Linux isn't ready for everyone else, but it is more than ready for this group. This is also the biggest and easiest target.

The one thing with basic users is that most technophobic people fall into this category. Because of this, usability is often an argument against Linux, but it really isn't an issue anymore. Many Linux distributions, especially Ubuntu, are very usable. Ubuntu isn't significantly less user-friendly than Mac or Windows, but since it is different, it will need to be significantly more intuitive than them for the technophobic to feel comfortable switching. The only reason some people are only comfortable with Windows is because they are used to it and a change of something they already don't actually understand (their operating system) is a prospect with a distinct stress and even fear associated with it.

Hardware support is almost not even an issue anymore. The only reason that success is so frequent with Windows is because most Windows users receive their machines already loaded with the necessary drivers. Security, stability, availability, and price are certainly not issues. So, since there is plenty of reason to switch to Linux, and few remaining obstacles, why isn't everyone doing it? It comes down to consumer awareness. I will refer mostly to Ubuntu because it is, in my opinion, the most mainstream-ready distribution of Linux and its success is a win for Linux and free software as a whole.

Now, it seems logical to look for some flaw with Linux to blame for it not being more popular and then to try to fix that flaw, but instead consider that there is no flaw and that there are other things holding Linux back. Let's instead think about what needs to happen to reach the tipping point. Targeting governments or public schools to adopt Linux has a strong local impact but what will really put things in motion? Linux needs to be sold right alongside Windows.

All it would take is for one major chain of stores to successfully execute a Linux offering. Right now, Dell sells Ubuntu machines, so why aren't more dominoes falling? Well, for starters, Ubuntu is only offered on a separate section of their website and it's not sold alongside Windows. Doing so would help, but another reason is that selling Ubuntu online doesn't give it the visibility of having it sold in stores. A lot of the technophobic type need to go to a store where there are people to answer their questions and inform them.

Now let's imagine this happening with just one major chain store. With an Ubuntu loaded machine on the shelf next to a Windows box, people will be seeing Ubuntu as the serious competition to Windows that it is. Staff will have to know about free software and Linux, so customers will no longer be kept in the dark. The concepts of free software and the open source software model will finally be revealed to the everyday computer buyer. Support will be made available for these buyers. More press coverage will bring even more visibility. After that comes more machines being sold with Linux, more industry support, more hardware being designed to work for Linux, and free software development flourishing.

Okay, but why would a company gamble on the success of selling machines with Linux pre-installed? Well, for the above result, you don't have to offer every machine with Windows or Ubuntu: you only need a couple-- maybe one laptop and one desktop. Start by selling a couple, and that will provide a taste of the demand. I have no doubt that this small offering would appeal to a lot of people. There's also the press that this company would be able to enjoy. Which company wouldn't want to be the first one to sell the next big thing?

What can we do to make this happen? Go to the store and ask them about Ubuntu, then if they don't sell that on any of their machines which they probably don't, show off Ubuntu on your own machine if you brought it with you, or promise to bring in your Ubuntu laptop sometime soon. Make calls, write letters, and take advantage of things like Dell's IdeaStorm. The most important thing to do is to show how they would profit from this. They would be the first to tap into this growing market and they would get lots of press. I encourage everyone to get involved in making this happen. The success of free software is inevitable anyways, so if nothing else, just keep up the good work!

Tell Dell to Put Ubuntu in Retail Stores

I was happy to see the new Ubuntu machines from Dell and i decided it was time for Ubuntu to appear in big retail stores like Best Buy. So, i posted to IdeaStorm to ask them to put their Ubuntu machines in retail stores. Please add your support!