Microsoft silently kills dev backdoor that boots Linux on locked-down Windows RT slabs Microsoft has quietly killed a vulnerability that can be exploited to unlock ARM-powered Windows RT tablets and boot non-Redmond-approved operating systems. The Register has learned that one of the security holes addressed this week in the July edition of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday closes a backdoor left in Windows RT by its …
The RT slab-tops had at LEAST a chance at being useful, if they could run Linux... but now they have NO worth at ALL.
I pity anyone that was suckered into buying one of those...
I remember the 'secure boot' fiasco, and how Micro-shaft ASSURED us that for x86, you would be able to DISABLE the 'secure boot' and load "a legacy OS" onto a windows-logo certified box. But, NOT SO with the ARM-based boxen. We have to wonder *why* this was... and I think we're seeing some of that coming back like a turd that won't flush.
I briefly looked into one, a cheap Windows tablet with a decent processor architecture seemed like a good idea, it seemed like a novelty to have a Windows desktop on a tablet.
Until I quickly researched a little bit further. No x86 support, except for using emulators which on a low spec tablet would be sub-optimal. App quantity is low in the Windows store as is, nevermind that RT could only run a subset of ARM compiled/compatible apps. Built in Office but was the full screen tabet style interface.
The thought of installing a different OS would at least have made it useful - indeed, an HP Touchpad gained another lease of life by dual-booting Android (actually went further and triple booting the alpha LuneOS) while retaining the original WebOS for posterity purposes, and some have installed Ubuntu.
Now Microsoft has said no to alternative OSs.
What did I go for in the end? A cheap Chinese tablet, x86, 64GB storage, 4GB RAM, dual boots Android and Win10 - runs LibreOffice, Eclipse, some older Windows games, app store support, also runs Android, a great combination.
WM "What did I go for in the end? A..."
Why the singular "A..." ?
Perhaps it comes from living in Canada. We know that we need to buy summer tires, and we know that we also need to buy winter tires. We know that those people that buy only 'a' singular set of "all season" tires are unwise. We learn at an early age that it's sometimes better to drop the assumption of singularity.
How cheap do cheap tablets have to get before everyone will drop this assumption of singularity?
Perhaps the spell will be finally broken when they're sold in 'Variety OS 3-packs' for £15.
As someone who lives in Canada and drove on all-season tires on my 4x4 for more than 2 decades going skiing, fishing and visiting family, I call BS on this unwise statement.
What happened is that the automotive industry just increased their tire sales by a lot, thats what happened and people who live in appartments and have their balconies loaded with recycling bins, compost bins, garbage bins are paying $50+ twice a year to get their tires stored on top of the costs of tires. What has happened to (non-alcohol) winter accidents numbers since then? Nothing. Stayed the same.
Accepting blindly what you are forced something isnt learning.
Now I can show you numbers that prove that wearing bike helmets do protect you from brain injury but that doenst matter since there is no lobby with enough political power to enforce this.
The good part with the tires thing is that more and more people have stopped having a 2nd car which is a necessity if both spouses work or you have more than 1 child doing sports/activities and replaced it with car sharing services. Its actually better this way and cheaper but that was an unintended consequence.
Aye. Buy good tires. Replace them when they start to go. Today, that's really all you need to do for most of Canada.
All seasons have gotten me through urban driving, all the hiways south of Athabasca in Alberta, and even through white-out blizzard conditions on the Coquihalla. I'm not sure I'd go up a corduroy road on them, but then again I'm pretty sure my wimpy little Scion XB would disintegrate on one of them anyways.
Now, some of this might be due to the fact that if it's stupidly awful outside I can choose to just not travel for a day or two. Benefits of both of us working from home. I doubt it, however. I think things like traction control and ABS probably have more to do with it. That and the fact that we've actually advanced tire design and materials technology rather a lot since the 70s...
"But all three of your examples [Billions of iPhone, Android, PlayStation] are still supported and so have value. M$ fondle slabs. Erm... Don't
Maybe you didn't read the article - RT is supported until 2017 or 2018. So surely it has some value.
No Android device ever has had support for as long as even these RT devices have already had. Would you say that any Android device from 2012 (birth of RT) are without any value?
Actually I quite liked Win RT - it worked perfectly well on my Yoga 11 - and my other half and I used it often. Unfortunately the hardware bit the dust - the storage chips blew and so that was that.
Had that not happened, early 2013 through to 2018 with "supported" status doesn't seem too bad really given the current throwaway hardware world we live in
"Would you say that any Android device from 2012 (birth of RT) are without any value?"
My lovely little Sony slab from 2012 (probably 2011 tech or even older but I bought it in a Sony shop in 2012), has been running SETI-at-Home, and some of her little friends for more than a year continuously. The last time it was rebooted was due to my router failing and the Android not being able to refind it. After a little tweak, even router drop-outs haven't bothered the Sony.
She has nice things like Kingston Office and VLC, APoD collectors and Calibre for my amusement and she runs smoother than any Windows or Mac box I've ever had, even with SETI chuntering away in the background. She even has access to free teach-yourself-computerry-bits Computer Based Training applications that are fun.
Her only issue, and I'm not sure it is one, is that it won't update the OS. I've never been bothered enough to find out why.
I only mentioned this as an example of an Android slab that is quite functional and even useful even after four or five years. Indeed, she'll probably outlast Civilisation.
It's a stupid assumption that someone buying an example of 'locked down crap' couldn't also buy other tablets that aren't 'locked down' to perform other functions. Having several tablets with varying features and different OS ecosystems provides more flexibility.
Who in their right mind makes the daft assumption that they're limited to selecting only one tablet?
NEWS FLASH: You're allowed to own more than one tablet.
NEWS FLASH: They're often cheap as chips.
e.g. Jay Leno owns a Tata Nano car, which is awful. Don't feel sorry for him. He has 200 other cars.
"It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."
"... unless it's running Windows 2029, in which case it'll stop every ten minutes to load massive updates, forget what it was hunting and go for a coffee."
... the only thing it can secure is business models.
It keeps you from running a minimalistic simple operating system which would be more secure than Windows RT, where you are supposed to run untrustable software from some "App Store" and install updates you cannot control.
But "Microsoft Love's Linux".....
When they see an advantage in doing so, like in cloudy stuff, where Linux currently rules (the "embrace" phase). So there is no inconsistency.
Anyway, from Microsoft's point of view, this was about fixing a bug. Supporting Linux on these tablets was never promised.
From the supposedly 'new' 'Open Source friendly' Microsoft.
They'd rather see all their failed RT tablets end up in 'landfill' than be re-purposed with something more flexible.
They may still be officially supported, but I doubt very much RT is on the map for any work short of bugfixes like this 'mine mine mine, and you can't have it'.
They should be studying what 'linux or any replacement is like on it and taking notes.
Well, if it weren't for all the Waylaid/Mir and various Display Manager groups going out of their way to destroy XDMCP, you could load a stripped-down XServer on them, and use it as a "wireless xterminal" to a *REAL* system. Put all your applications, files and media on the machine in your home office, and sit in the living room with your re-purposed SurfRT, and you've got something way lighter than most laptops, yet still have access to whatever you want.
The Surface 2 (non-pro) is actually quite good. If you understand the limitations - that you're not going to get all the apps and no other windows programs work - the tablet is fast and capable. Wierdly the metro interface works well on it (even with a windows 10 style start button now if you want) and you're pretty much immune to viruses and attacks as it isn't x86 and heavily locked down. The Tegra 4 ticks along fine, full office 2013 with Outlook, you can tweak it like normal Windows. The biggest limitiation is IE11 - the metro version feels fine but will no doubt be the first thing to cause issues out of support as newer features become more important. Great camera, well built, good battery, proper USB 3 port and microSD and lovely screen. For a surfing/emailing/office thing it's an anomaly. And it won't get updated to Win10 so there's a bonus.
I have a Surface 2 Win RT tablet. It's lovely and is my favorite tablet for downloading videos and watching them later. The screen is generous, gorgeous image quality, good sound quality, has an SD slot, and it fills that niche perfectly. It was only $300 shipped, and has earned its keep many times over. It's so lovely that I wouldn't hesitate to buy a good used spare if I ever see one for under $100.
Too many unthinking dim bulbs have this inane unspoken assumption that everyone is permitted to own only one tablet. They assume that if someone has (in this example) a Windows RT tablet, that they're somehow 'trapped' and 'can't do this' and 'can't do that'. They express sympathy for, or anger at, the inherent limitations of the RT version of Windows.
It's a monumentally stupid reaction.
The 'sympathy' or 'anger' reaction is like 'feeling sorry for' or mocking Jay Leno because he owns a horrible Tata Nano car. Yeah, but he's got 200 other cars, so this reaction is daft.
In my case, I have nearly a dozen tablets and similar gadgets. They were all cheap as chips, and each fills its own niche. If I feel the need for the full Windows experience, then I'll pick up either the Win 8 or Win 10 tablet. Apple, Blackberry, Android, etc. There's a whole stack of them...
What's the origin of this subtle assumption that everyone must carefully select only one tablet, carefully optimised in every detail? It's a daft assumption and leads to stupid reactions.
People arguing about the pros and cons, never even imagining that they're allowed to buy one of each.
tig... "...one tablet (if any) is all they can afford..."
BALONEY. Read their words. They can "only afford" nothing but the finest tablet money can buy. They turn up their noses at anything less than the finest £1000+ Surface, or whatever their OS religiin demands. That's exactly their point. They're Tablet OS snobs.
Your attempted rebuttal is apologists' nonsense.
And you've missed or ignored my fundamental point too.
For a lot of people, a device for "downloading videos and watching them later." is not usually a device that deserves to be considered to have "earned its keep many times over".
Clearly you have far more disposable income than most, and by the Jay Leno reference thrown in, I'm assuming your American (so is it cheap as chips,crisps or micro-chips (not the edible ones by McCainn)?). This side of the pond, often the price is converted to sterling by merely changing the currency sign.
His American what?
your != you're
Also can't help thinking ewe missed yore own point!...
Thought yew were going too point out two our (American?) friend that Mr Leno has 200 cars because there "cheap as chips" two him... but that's (also) absurdly alien to ordinary hominid types... who typically don't each own hundreds of cars...
Perhaps ewe distracted yaw self wile offloading you're weird "yew don't no what chips are" chip?
@Teiwaz ""earned its keep""
The Surface 2 was only $300 Cdn delivered (about £175 at the time).
If I take a Sharpie, cross out 'Surface 2' and write in 'Wifi-enabled Portable Internet TV' then it has already found an important purpose and earned its price. In Canada, like the USA, the local TV is 99% mindless rubbish. To access quality programing in English, one needs to find UK / BBC programs left lying around on the 'net. The Surface 2, even 'labouring' under the heavy burden of the 'horrific' Windows RT OS, performs this chore to perfection. It's already provided endless hours of education and entertainment. It's earned its keep.
It does other things too, but it excels at video playback.
If you read those other grumbling posts carefully, you'll see that most of them presuppose that one may only own one gadget. If the gadget has any limitations whatsoever, these OS snobs can't conceive of reaching over to pick up a different gadget.
Theirs is an idiotic assumption, which is my point.
No, they prepropose that one may own one's gadget.
If the software a device is running reaches end-of-life, why shouldn't the owner be able to stick another OS on it? Are you going to tell them they shouldn't put Linux on an old desktop PC or Cyanogen on an old mobile phone either?
If Samsung suddenly pushed out updates which locked down the bootloader on obviously unsupported devices then that would also be viewed as a shitty move by most.
Repurposing old hardware for education has always been a thing, but not with this junk. When I was in tech school we received old PCs to do everything from learning soldering skills to building PCs with various OSs. But now they are just good for polluting.
Best bet when they break/age is to mail them to MS with no return address. After a few thousand they will get the hint.
Take a Sharpie, cross out 'Surface 2' and write in 'Wifi-enabled Portable Internet TV'. Plug in a huge SD Memory Card. Install the Copytube (a.k.a. Downtube) app. Get a nice set of headphones.
You fill the SD card with all sorts of TV series or videos. The battery lasts all day. The image and sound quality are great. Near zero 'net 'security' threats.
It'll become one of your favourite gadgets (assuming that you have others).
If you live in a 4 sq ft closet and only have room for one gadget, then toss it.
When Windows RT devices stop receiving updates they wont cease functioning; they will just be at greater risk of remote exploits. Most no-name Android devices never received security updates at all. Apple iOS devices and many Android devices from big-name brands also only receive updates for a limited time. Likewise you can't install Linux on most Android or iOS-devices. So all these excuses to attack Microsoft should in fairness be directed equally at all these platforms.
This is why we should call it GNU/Linux; the only thing "desktop Linux" aka GNU/Linux and Android have in common is the Linux kernel. So yeah, you are already running Linux on your Android phone and you can even chroot (without rooting the device) to run a whole GNU/Linux distro, for example Debian.
Considering that most RT tablets probably don't get a lot of usage these days Microsoft should throw users a bone and allow the tablet to be opened up so users who would otherwise not care to use their RT tablet again can find new life in it. It's not like we'll be seeing an ARM edition of Windows 10.
I get that they want to patch vulnerabilities, but seriously, they should just give the option for users to easily get admin access to the system and unlock the boot loader. Maybe give a giant warning to users that doing this may open up security 'vulnerabilities', so there isn't any misunderstanding of the consequences. Maybe do something similar to what Chromebooks do when you enable developer mode.
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