Actually, Microsoft has provided a patent grant[1][2][3] to anybody who implements a FAT driver for the purpose of booting UEFI. Which is actually a reason why FAT is still in the Linux kernel even though people argue that Microsoft will sue one day.
But IMO we should be all switching to CoreBoot (or LibreBoot). It's much less fucked up than UEFI, the only negative being that you have to flash it yourself (unless you buy a $1000 5-year-old Thinkpad).
They are still responsible for the non-free license on the TianoCore; Intel are having to negotiate with Microsoft to change the license, despite being the copyright holder.
Agreed re not using UEFI. I wouldn't touch CoreBoot though, LibreBoot seems more sane.
LibreBoot is CoreBoot with certain binary blobs removed. Sure, I agree that LibreBoot is better from a freedom perspective, I just assumed that you wouldn't know what LibreBoot is (more people have heard of CoreBoot).
But IMO we should be all switching to CoreBoot (or LibreBoot). It's much less fucked up than UEFI, the only negative being that you have to flash it yourself (unless you buy a $1000 5-year-old Thinkpad).
[1]: http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/6/1/161ba512-40e2-4...