I think the only way forward is for some manufacturer to step up and design hardware that will run Linux, yet be competitive with the features of Surface. We'r

I think the only way forward is for some manufacturer to step up and design hardware that will run Linux, yet be competitive with the features of Surface. We're only worrying about this entire issue because the mass market, presumably, will adopt Surface - and thus Microsofts standard lockout policies - and thus 'all the cheap hardware wont be available to us'. But, there is absolutely nothing stopping a hardware manufacturer from stepping up and saying - well, here's a laptop that is just as nice, but no lockout. Companies like Always-Innovating (shudder) have attempted it in the past - sure, its not easy, but it may be easier than getting Surface cracked, or the US/EU/Chinese Governments to apply anti-monopoly legislation to Microsoft/et al. I know, its expensive to get this done properly, but if there is an opportunity here, its in the Hardware Startup realm. It is fraught with danger and problem at all fronts, but then again .. people said that the raspberry-pi project wouldn't work. They said it about the Open Pandora. They said it about Always Innovating. It really is just a matter of pushing harder, persisting through the storms, and I believe the market is there. In fact, OpenPandora2 could very well be the solution to this entire dilemna. The OP guys have had a rough time of it, but they're still in the ring .. if only someone like Valve or so on would get a bit more muscle behind them, we'd see the OpenPandora2 (or whatever) step into the ring and start competing just fine, methinks .. EDIT: Take a look at this thing and tell me its not a few small hardware-revisions away from being an ideal Surface competitor: http://www.openpandora.org/ http://www.openpandora.org/ It may well be 5 years behind the tech curve, but the damn thing works so well, and yet was created by VOLUNTEERS and PIONEERS who, indeed, have emerged from the Linux/OpenSource eco-sphere, under the radar of the mainstream to start actually delivering. I know, the numbers aren't there (they haven't hit 5000 users yet), but just imagine what it could be if a little more muscle were put behind this project from someone like Valve ..