First we had ‘EFI Secure Boot‘ limited to Microsoft control, and now Intel and AMD have both recently – and somewhat coincidentally – announced that their new tablet-focussed CPUs – ‘Clover Trail‘ and ‘Hondo‘ respectively – will be ‘Windows 8 Only’, with Intel even going so far to state categorically that ‘Linux will not be supported’..     I can only assume that some ‘arrangement’ has previously been negotiated with Microsoft for them both to come out with similar position statements..   Anti-competitive, to say the least…    Hopefully their ‘consideration’ from Redmond will compensate then for losing the potentially far more lucrative Android business?    Another reason for this artificial pre-emptive restriction may well be that they do not want to be compared in a head-to-head test with Android on ARM….

Opinion:
Intel – and to a certain extent, AMD – are both worried by the continuing success of the ARM architecture, and they see Microsoft as their ‘ally’ in the coming battle..
Microsoft is scared by the rising star of ARM, which can break their cosy monopolistic relationship with Intel and AMD that has existed for many years..
Windows 8 RT (for ARM) is a desperate attempt by Microsoft to prove it can provide typical Windows functionality on the ARM platform, but it really doesn’t.   Many of the ‘standard’ apps are missing..

Now, we will wait to see who can come up with the first ‘unofficial’ port of Linux to these CPUs..    After all, they are both just X86-based…

Robert Gadsdon  (C).2012

Further reading:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2205462/idf-intel-says-clover-trail-will-not-work-with-linux
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2205758/amds-hondo-will-only-support-windows-8-at-launch
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/windows-8-launch-disappoints-windows-rt-still-a-headache-1107573

This article was first published recently, in ‘Adventures with Linux’, but is included here, updated, as this is a more appropriate place!

© Robert Gadsdon, 2012