...

Meanwhile although x86 PCs are expected to have the ability to disable secure boot MS have decreed that in order to be certified for Windows 8 then ARM based systems *must not* have the ability to disable secure boot, thus completely blocking out all competitive platforms and ensuring a monopoly. With the huge growth in ARM based devices in recent years this is a disaster in progress.

I guess. I'm not *so* worried about the ARM situation because it only applies to Microsoft ARM devices (currently a very small percentage of the market), whereas Microsoft has a complete monopoly on x86 devices if you take out Apple.

While there are a lot of new ARM devices coming out, Microsoft doesn't have the market power to require all of them be locked down. (Of course, Apple already requires all of their ARM devices be locked down as well -- IMHO that's a bigger threat than Microsoft in the mobile space, and one that's already been happening for many years.)

So I guess instead of buying ARM devices certified by Microsoft, we should just buy other ARM devices like the Vivaldi Table (http://makeplaylive.com/) and I hope that in the future many other producer will do the same. But there is still the problem with the masses, we have to inform them to avoid "Microsoft hardware". Jean