Anyways, to wrap this up: is your position basically that Tony was not smart enough to run Linux, and that this particular laptop's firmware was just fine? Further, is your position that in order to boot from USB, you should *have* to boot first into win8, and learn the hold-shift-while-you-click-restart trick, pick option 2, select your hardware-chipset-name from a list? Most of all, are you saying with a straight face that process is an easy, sure-fire way (see FSF definition) to install Linux? I phrase these questions in starkly confrontational fashion, because I don't really think you hold such positions. But what *is* your exact position?
To me, it sounds like the combination of SecureBoot/GPT/UEFI infrastructure changes, coming all at once, is often too confusing even for reasonably savvy endusers that *already* know how to use Linux. Furthermore, that many changes at once is also leading directly to buggy firmware from manufacturers like Samsung (cannot boot from usb3 port in Tony's case... and lots of variation by vendor and model in the general case mentioned in comments below), and buggy tech-support scripts ("downgrading to Ubuntu will void your warranty"). Both of these trends directly benefit Windows: if even the geeks cannot get Linux to install without hours of effort and/or without disabling SecureBoot, and if firmware bugs don't impact win8 but do impact everything else, that's just peachy. Now, obviously, not everything is about Linux... part of the reason that GPT, UEFI, DDR3, and friends were introduced was to further winnow down the WinXP ranks. Planned obsolescence is not just for hardware, after all, with proprietary sockets for every generation of CPU and every generation of RAM; it's for software generations, as well.
So, although I think you're correct, that *probably* there was a way to install Linux on the laptop in question, I also think that Tony is correct: "...there is some activity there, which, if not actually illegal (and anti-competitive IS actually illegal) is certainly not quite right. Thanks for listening. Listen, at the end of the day, it is your money - you buy what you want. But I just want to explain things which no one else is talking about, and which there is NO MENTION of on the specs that are given for the machine when you are thinking to buy it. At least now, you have a more informed position from which to make your choices."
Tony's goal is to warn other consumers. My goal is to figure out a better pathway to getting F/L/OSS into the mainstream, for distro developers. So, if I don't like the current way that booting from USB works on new Win8 boxen, I should propose a new&improved way.
Re: SecureBoot setting, versus SecureBoot philosophy
To me, it sounds like the combination of SecureBoot/GPT/UEFI infrastructure changes, coming all at once, is often too confusing even for reasonably savvy endusers that *already* know how to use Linux. Furthermore, that many changes at once is also leading directly to buggy firmware from manufacturers like Samsung (cannot boot from usb3 port in Tony's case... and lots of variation by vendor and model in the general case mentioned in comments below), and buggy tech-support scripts ("downgrading to Ubuntu will void your warranty"). Both of these trends directly benefit Windows: if even the geeks cannot get Linux to install without hours of effort and/or without disabling SecureBoot, and if firmware bugs don't impact win8 but do impact everything else, that's just peachy. Now, obviously, not everything is about Linux... part of the reason that GPT, UEFI, DDR3, and friends were introduced was to further winnow down the WinXP ranks. Planned obsolescence is not just for hardware, after all, with proprietary sockets for every generation of CPU and every generation of RAM; it's for software generations, as well.
So, although I think you're correct, that *probably* there was a way to install Linux on the laptop in question, I also think that Tony is correct: "...there is some activity there, which, if not actually illegal (and anti-competitive IS actually illegal) is certainly not quite right. Thanks for listening. Listen, at the end of the day, it is your money - you buy what you want. But I just want to explain things which no one else is talking about, and which there is NO MENTION of on the specs that are given for the machine when you are thinking to buy it. At least now, you have a more informed position from which to make your choices."
Tony's goal is to warn other consumers. My goal is to figure out a better pathway to getting F/L/OSS into the mainstream, for distro developers. So, if I don't like the current way that booting from USB works on new Win8 boxen, I should propose a new&improved way.