Writing an End to the Bio of BIOS?

An anonymous reader writes "Intel and Microsoft are gearing up to move toward the first major overhaul of the innermost workings of the personal computer. The companies will begin promoting a technology specification called EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) as a new system for starting up a PC's hardware before its operating system begins loading."

Well if Microsoft's involved....

[Anonymous Coward]

...it HAS to be bad, and an attempt to kill Linux.

That pretty much sums up the rest of the posts on this. Thanks, let's move on to the next story.

oh great

[pvt_medic]

so now we will get a blue screen of death before the computer can even load the operating system. Looks like it is time to stock up on motherboards.

back in my day...

[PoPRawkZ]

I remember when we had to flash our BIOS off a 5 1/4 inch magnetic storage media and if there was a brown out like there so often were back before we had nuclear fission, you'd have to replace your EPROM! You kids have it so good these days.

Re:OF?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would Intel want to prevent people from booting into Linux?

What's stopping them from doing that now?

God forbid PCs should boot up more quickly, it MUST be a conspiracy theory to snuff out Linux. Now readjust your tin foil had and get back to whining about every new development at MS.

Does this mean it'll crash before loading Windows?

[VEGx]

Since M$ is on it...

Re:So? - What do you mean?

[Markvs]

What do you mean when? I thought that decision was made back in 1994!

Re:Well if Microsoft's involved....

[IWorkForMorons]

...would this simply become a matter of the BIOS not allowing anything but "acceptable" OSes to boot?

Actually, they're called "trusted" OSes. And if you can't trust Microsoft, then who can you trust?

What about Windows and Linux

[nycsubway]

I think Windows and Linux should form a joint platform. Windows OS with Linux firmware, called Windex!

Re:OF?

[cloudmaster]

That's a mature, existing standard. If consumer PCs were meant to have OF, they would've gotten it a long time ago. Therefore, a new "standard" should be developed and left undocumented.

Re:What about Apple?

[NineNine]

I agree. I see the same thing with Apple. Every time I buy a Macintosh, I have the hardest time getting W2K to run on them. Damn lock in.

End of BIOS bio

[Anonymous Coward]

BIOS was found dead in a Scottsdale motel room, bound and in a leather mask. Police are on the lookout for an EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface). Said interface should be in fine physical shape, but its extensibility may make it hard to recognize. If you see this EFI, do not attempt to turn it on.

OF is based on Forth?

[eer]

Forth?

Wasn't Postscript good enough for them?

No wonder it's not hit mainstream.

Re:Gah! DRM in BIOS? Check please!

[cdf123]

... There really shouldn't be that much going on in BIOS, that's what the whole B part means, ya know.

Bloated?

The real scoop

[salesgeek]

Whats the big deal here? Everyone knows bios is obsolete. It doesn't start with the all powerful internet letters "e" or "i". It doesn't have an embedded web browser. It can't play downloadable games. It even sounds all 80's - logo, DOS, bios, ROM... Not sexy. So here's the marketing redesign:

* Start with a leter "e" or "i". "e" is more powerful because it evokes environmentalist images of birds singing, clean water, air, beaches. I is too industrial... Let's go with E
* No StudlyCaps - Too 90s
* Avoid anything that sounds like a computer part from the movie Tron. To 80s.
* Add features that journalists want: pre-os software load (we don't want the OPERATING SYSTEM RUNNING THE COMPUTER), DRM, Support for hard drive loaded modules, and OnStar w/GPS for convenient assistance for law enforcement.

Re:OF?

[hitmark]

like someone else pointed out, the real hog in booting is the os, evne linux takes some time in getting going. but atleast there one can at a glance see what is holding up the traffic but in windows your just looking at the gray and blue or fisher-price boot screen and waiting for that loadbar to hit 100%. what feels faster?

Re:No progress for ANYBODY!!!!

[Billly Gates]

Nice but then you would end up with an Itanium???