Okay but if they do that I’m telling my dad and sending my big bro after them.
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To encourage people to install Linux?
I don’t think they can. Now, I’m not entirely at home down on that low level, but I’m pretty sure that functionality would have to be built into the BIOS. Or, I should say, is built into the BIOS. Windows could totally flash your BIOS with a firmware version that disallows installing other systems, and could do so for decades, and has had that kind of deals with certain hardware vendors in the past (I do remember a Dell computer that was keyed to a specific license key of Windows… 98. Yes, that’s how far back that goes).
As such, even if they could use TPM for that, it wouldn’t exactly be new capability. And I honestly don’t think they can, since the OS would require to get control of the system first, which at the point of install is still with BIOS. But as mentioned, they could do it through BIOS. A hell of a headache without vendor cooperation, but not impossible.
Also, one big giant lawsuit waiting to happen. I don’t think they’re after that kind of trouble right now. Going back and negotiating special OEM licenses that disallow installing other systems would be easier, and they could probably make it legal just by burying the disclaimer somewhere in the license EULA.
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On installation, the very first thing Windows 11 does is take control of the UEFI BIOS. From that point on, they have BIOS control over what software runs. The TPM works in conjunction with the BIOS.
The difference with Windows 11 is that with previous Windows versions, and with previous motherboards, a TPM was optional. Now it’s mandatory - so Microsoft have control both at the BIOS and the data encryption levels.
If you build your own computer, during BIOS setup, you get the choice to allow Windows 11 to lock the BIOS. If you buy the computer with Windows 11 ready installed, the choice has already been made for you.
The problem is not that either UEFI BIOS or TPM is new. In the past, much of their use has been optional. With Windows 11, it’s not. You WILL give Microsoft total control of your BIOS and TPM.
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Can I get some Bleep Bloop for these?
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By now, I need to ask… What the hell is this Bleep Bloop everybody keeps talking about and which we apparently had twenty years of now? 
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It’s (allegedly) the sound an Xbox made when you got an achievement.
November 22nd was the 20th birthday of the Xbox 360.
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I was hooked on red Vs blue back in the machinimation day, and Caboose’s Bleep Bloop has lived rent free in my head ever since.
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