A.P. Lawrence

Microsoft BIOS

Fri Oct 3 21:32:57 GMT 2003 Microsoft BIOS

Link: Microsoft moves to integrate Windows with BIOS

This is scary. Obviously the DRM part is a concern, but I think there is even more to worry about. If Microsoft gets very cozy with Phoenix at this level, what's to stop Windows from working better on Phoenix BIOSes and even more disturbing, what's to stop the BIOS from NOT working well with Linux et al. "accidentally on purpose"?

They've done this before:

(From Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire)

According to one Microsoft programmer, a few of the key people working on DOS 2.0 had a saying at the time that "DOS isn't done until Lotus won't run." They managed to code a few hidden bugs into DOS 2.0 that caused Lotus 1-2-3 to breakdown when it was loaded. "There were as few as three or four people who knew this was being done," the employee said. He felt the highly competitive Gates was the ringleader.

Coding a BIOS that would run slowly or quirkily with non-Microsoft OSes wouldn't be hard - in fact, they could even admit it and explain it away as unavoidable. People trying out alternatives would have a less than pleasant time, might have to disable desirable features, give up certain peripherals or accept lowered performance - who knows?

Scary stuff, I think.

Psst - Wanna work for yourself?

Comments
CommentsBlog555 :
How does this fit in with Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI)? http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/developer/0,39020387,2130826,00.htm

NilsR

I wonder how that fits at all. Sounds like Intel has something, but they say they aren't going to manufacture it. So that must mean they want others to license it. Has anyone?

--TonyLawrence

"...what's to stop Windows from working better on Phoenix BIOSes and even more disturbing, what's to stop the BIOS from NOT working well with Linux et al. 'accidentally on purpose'?"

Assuming Gates got his way, I could forsee where eventually the BIOS would not run anything BUT Windows. At that point, they might as well burn the entire operating system into EPROM and not bother with loading it from disk. Is there nothing that this man Gates won't stop at to get his way???

--BigDumbDinosaur

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