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Having worked for one of the top three ...
... PC OEM's for years I am torn by this iniative. The BIOS is a very complicated area that is more of an art form then a science to program. One of the biggest pains in introducing a new motherboard is getting the BIOS right. Part of the problem is that the base BIOS has not evolved since the beginning of the PC although it has been patched many times for new hardware. To make matters worse it is written in assembly language making it even more cryptic. Once Intel has adopted EFI, (Extensible Firmware Interface) in place of the traditional BIOS the situation should improve. The new interface will be modular and written in C. Intel has pledged to release the code in the form of a developers kit partly to allow Phoenix and AMI to add value in this area rather then being seen as an effort to eliminate them. Unfortunately Phoenix is already pushing their own proprietary solution called First Bios. This I believe is a step in the wrong direction.

The actual BIOS flashing utilities will probably remain proprietary in any case. There are valid reasons for this. There are things like BIOS locked CDs and OSs that require certain details remain protected.
Posted by: ShadeTree   Posted on: 02/28/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Another attack on employment  osreinstall | 02/28/05
I don't see it as such  voska | 02/28/05
IBM gave the specs in 1981  osreinstall | 02/28/05
Chipsets are already commodities  John L. Ries | 02/28/05
Not all chipsets  osreinstall | 02/28/05
Personally I think Stallman is off his rocker  voska | 03/01/05
Can't handle competition huh?  Squawkbox | 03/01/05
squawker  osreinstall | 03/01/05
BAD Idea  htotten | 02/28/05
Open-sourcing Ethernet  John L. Ries | 02/28/05
What for?  osreinstall | 02/28/05
Not everyone does the 3-year upgrade cycle (NT)  John L. Ries | 02/28/05
I do not upgrade every 3 years  osreinstall | 02/28/05
I do..  Patrick Jones | 03/01/05
but they don't.  maxo_z | 03/01/05
The mhz race is over  osreinstall | 03/01/05
Good point  voska | 03/01/05
Foundation wants more of the PC to be free  Loverock Davidson | 02/28/05
Question(s)  Patrick Jones | 03/01/05
Having worked for one of the top three ...  ShadeTree | 02/28/05
...and OSs that require certain details remain protected...  Root User | 03/01/05
So in reply to what I thought was a well thought out ...  ShadeTree | 03/01/05
Of course they do  CobraA1 | 02/28/05
Message has been deleted.  iqula22 | 03/01/05
As long as he doesn't mandate its his way or no way  FilledOut | 03/01/05
My 20 year old vision nears reality  Roger Ramjet | 03/01/05
This was done with the ...  ShadeTree | 03/01/05
where can I buy this then?  voska | 03/01/05
Go to your local landfill it's free happy  osreinstall | 03/01/05
I don't know if it is still commercially available but it was called the ..  ShadeTree | 03/01/05
You are going the wrong way  osreinstall | 03/01/05
Man you guy's all missed the key point  Linux User 147560 | 03/01/05
And you are missing reality  osreinstall | 03/01/05
Whole PC should be free  FilledOut | 03/06/05

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