If you thought you were gonna install Android or any other operating system than Windows onto your shiny new Windows 8 tablet, you thought wrong. It appears the big M that is Microsoft, will be locking down the bootloader on it's Windows 8 devices running on the ARM processor.
Computer World UK is reporting that Windows 8 will be shipping with a new feature named Secure Boot, what this does is essentially lock down the bootloader and prohibit the installation of any other operating system. OEM's will be giving people the option of course to disable this feature on PC's, but it will not be a choice on any ARM based device.
So what does this mean for you? It means that if you have a windows 8 device running on an ARM processor, you will not have the ability to install any other operating system onto your device, even if it's another version of windows.
Phones like the iPhone or any Windows Phone 7 device have had something similar to this since their iteration, which should not come as a surprise to anyone. But this decision does give users some hard choices to make when it comes to purchasing a tablet running Windows 8. For example they will not be able to install Android, or even the upcoming tablet version of Ubuntu if they so wish.
So when you go to a Windows 8 tablet, but want the ability to have complete control over your it as you would your PC, make sure it's not powered by ARM.
So what does this mean for you? It means that if you have a windows 8 device running on an ARM processor, you will not have the ability to install any other operating system onto your device, even if it's another version of windows.
Phones like the iPhone or any Windows Phone 7 device have had something similar to this since their iteration, which should not come as a surprise to anyone. But this decision does give users some hard choices to make when it comes to purchasing a tablet running Windows 8. For example they will not be able to install Android, or even the upcoming tablet version of Ubuntu if they so wish.
So when you go to a Windows 8 tablet, but want the ability to have complete control over your it as you would your PC, make sure it's not powered by ARM.
Sources: Computer World UK Via Gizmodo