FSF Urges Moving Off Microsoft's GitHub to Protest Windows 11's Requiring TPM 2.0

TPM is a dedicated chip or firmware enabling hardware-level security, housing encryption keys, certificates, passwords, and sensitive data, 'and shielding them from unauthorized access,' Microsoft senior product manager Steven Hosking wrote last month, declaring TPM 2.0 to be 'a non-negotiable standard for the future of Windows.'

Or, as BleepingComputer put it, Microsoft 'made it abundantly clear... that Windows 10 users won't be able to upgrade to Windows 11 unless their systems come with TPM 2.0 support.' (This despite the fact that Statcounter Global data 'shows that more than 61% of all Windows systems worldwide still run Windows 10.') They add that Microsoft 'announced on October 31 that Windows 10 home users will be able to delay the switch to Windows 11 for one more year if they're willing to pay $30 for Extended Security Updates.'

But last week the Free Software Foundation's campaigns manager delivered a message on the FSF's official blog: 'Keep putting pressure on Microsoft.'

Grassroots organization against a corporation as large as Microsoft is never easy. They have the advertising budget to claim that they 'love Linux' (sic), not to mention the money and political willpower to corral free software developers from around the world on their nonfree platform Microsoft GitHub. This year's International Day Against DRM took aim at one specific injustice: their requiring a hardware TPM module for users being forced to 'upgrade' to Windows 11. As Windows 10 will soon stop receiving security updates, this is a (Microsoft-manufactured) problem for users still on this operating system. Normally, offloading cryptography to a different hardware module could be seen as a good thing — but with nonfree software, it can only spell trouble for the user...

What's crucial now is to keep putting pressure on Microsoft, whether that's through switching to GNU/Linux, avoiding new releases of their software, or actions as simple as moving your projects off of Microsoft GitHub. If you're concerned about e-waste or have friends who work to combat climate change, getting them together to tell them about free software is the perfect way to help our movement grow, and free a few more users from Microsoft's digital restrictions. If you're concerned about e-waste or have friends who work to combat climate change, getting them together to tell them about free software is the perfect way to help our movement grow, and free a few more users from Microsoft's digital restrictions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.