Why do Unix/Linux systems still need to depend on Microsoft?

Question

On an Ubuntu 20.04 system on Intel hardware:
# cd /boot/efi/EFI/
# file $(find . -name '*.efi')
./ubuntu/grubx64.efi: PE32+ executable …, for MS Windows
./ubuntu/shimx64.efi: PE32+ executable …, for MS Windows
./ubuntu/mmx64.efi:   PE32+ executable …, for MS Windows
./BOOT/fbx64.efi:     PE32+ executable …, for MS Windows
./BOOT/mmx64.efi:     PE32+ executable …, for MS Windows

It is Ubuntu-only, single-boot.
Unix systems predate Windows by fourteen years.
So why "MS Windows"?
Is there no way of escaping from the world of Microsoft?
(And yes, I know, resistance is futile.)

Eduardo Trápani · Answer

PE32+ is a public specification that was chosen for a reason (see the note on page 15 of the UEFI Specification 2.8B).

Note:This image type is chosen to enable UEFI images to contain Thumb and Thumb2 instructions while defining the EFI interfaces themselves to be in ARM mode)

It has nothing to do with dependency. Many specifications were developed by a company and then adopted as standards. For more info on the competing formats you could start here.

Why do Unix/Linux systems still need to depend on Microsoft?

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