Do you enjoy booting multiple operating systems—including non-Windows variants—on your computer? According to Red Hat, Canonical and the Linux Foundation, Microsoft’s latest OEM requirement to qualify for the “Designed for Windows 8” logo may prevent you from doing so. From ars technica:

Windows 8 computers that ship with UEFI secure booting enabled could make the task of replacing Windows with Linux or dual-booting the two operating systems more difficult. In order to get a “Designed for Windows 8” logo, PCs must ship with secure boot enabled, preventing the booting of operating systems that aren’t signed by a trusted Certificate Authority.

One option is to give the users the ability to disable the secure boot feature, which seems like common sense. Another option is to create an independent certificate authority:

The Linux Foundation further supports the establishment of an independent certificate authority to issue keys to third-party hardware and software vendors, presumably allowing Linux-based operating systems to be installed and still gain the security benefits of UEFI secure boot. (The Free Software Foundation has also weighed in with a petition directed at hardware vendors.)

This issue is not just limited to Linux user. Haiku is another non-Windows desktop operating system that could also be negatively affected by this implementation. While some may recommend building your own computer, this does not provide a realistic solution to laptop users.