Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

[Snowhog]

PC BIOS soon to be replaced by UEFI

Introduction to UEFI

Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and Unified EFI (UEFI)

A Tale of Two Standards

Re: UEFI Boot with Grub-Experimental

[rfakhrai]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

Mr. Torvalds weighs in

interesting threshold on which we stand

[sithlord48]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

apple computers have run EFI based machines for a while..

edit: after reading what mr.torvalds has to say about EFI ,let me also point out (since i didn't notice it there) that apple has used EFI since the start of "newworld" macs (basicly the G3 and newer PPC up to x86 based machines). as a person who has all sorts of issues w/ EFI let me just say i don't think its worth it ,they should be moving over an open bios instead..

edit edit: after double checking newworld PPC macs use Open Firmware not EFI (although it seams to be very similar to EFI its not exactly the same thing.

[rfakhrai]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

I, too, do not agree that UEFI is a major step forward. So, let's get the open BIOS going! :P

[GreyGeek]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

Mr. Torvalds weighs in

interesting threshold on which we stand

Linus "weighed in" FOUR years ago in that article! Lot's has changed since then.

Combine this change with IPv6 and I have to ask "Will any PC work next year?"

[rfakhrai]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

Mr. Torvalds weighs in

interesting threshold on which we stand

Linus "weighed in" FOUR years ago in that article! Lot's has changed since then.

Oh my!

[Qqmike]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

fyi, Related: GPT, GUID Partition Table

Very brief intro notes on this and using GRUB 2 on your GPT-partitioned flash drive (a toy example to try):

GRUB 2: A Guide for Users
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3106368.0

--> See Reply #1 (contains some special topics). This:

GPT: GUID Partition Table

CONTENTS

The PC: BIOS, booting, the MBR, the bootloader
MBR: Limitations, problems, the "2 TB limit" issue
GPT -- GUID Partition Table -- and EFI
GPT layout, features, and the Protective MBR for your bootloader
Maximum disk size in GPT systems: 9.44 billion terabytes (9.44 zettabytes (ZB))
Requirements for using a GPT (kernel, bootloader, utilities, BIOS Boot Partition)
=> Testing GRUB 2 on your GPT-partitioned flash drive
Troubleshooting

[Detonate]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

Yep, next year will be interesting, and to keep up, it's going to cost us money. I'll have to get a new MB for EUFI, and USB 3.0 and a new router for ipv6. Hope I get a nice tax refund. And I will have to get a new laptop too.

[rfakhrai]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

I've never been a fan of "keeping up." MS is somehow behind all this change anyway.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Move over BIOS, here comes UEFI

VISTA "did" have a dual IPv4/IPv6 stack, but I've read that Microsoft removed the IPv6 portion.

Microsoft has a lot of Internet compatible hardware dependent on the IPv4 stack, and I doubt that they can or have influenced the switch-over any more than Apple or other OEMs or software houses.

Microsoft is a dying consumer brand

Consumers have turned their backs on Microsoft. A company that once symbolized the future is now living in the past.

Microsoft has been late to the game in crucial modern technologies like mobile, search, media, gaming and tablets. It has even fallen behind in Web browsing, a market it once ruled with an iron fist.
...
It's not like Microsoft didn't foresee the changes ahead. With a staff of almost 90,000, the company has many of the tech world's smartest minds on its payroll, and has incubated projects in a wide range of fields that later took off. Experiments like Courier (tablets), HailStorm/Passport (digital identity), and Windows Media Center (content in the cloud) show the company was ahead of the game in many areas -- but then it either failed to bring those products to market, or didn't execute.
...
A rundown of Microsoft's major consumer projects finds trouble in almost all of them.

Internet Explorer's popularity has been waning for years, and one recent study showed that for the first time in more than a decade, more people are using alternative browsers. The browser is becoming the single most critical piece of software on a device -- potentially eclipsing the operating system -- but all of the major innovations of the past few years, like tabbed browsing and add-on extensions, came from outside Microsoft.

Windows Phone 7 has promise, but Microsoft dug itself an enormous hole with the subpar Windows Mobile platform. With its market share currently sitting below 5%, developers are taking a "wait and see" approach.
...
Microsoft's media platform Zune was dead on arrival.

Bing is growing, but substantially all of that growth has come at the expense of its business partner, Yahoo -- not its archrival Google.

Microsoft's attempts to build a social network through Windows Live have failed to gain traction. It has no real answer to Facebook.

Six months after Apple's (AAPL, Fortune 500) release of the iPad, Microsoft still has virtually no presence in the tablet market. And its strategy for taking on Apple -- Windows 7 on a tablet, rather than a tablet-specific operating system -- is leaving potential partners cold. Lenovo's technology director recently told PC Mag that his company won't be building around the platform: "The challenge with Windows 7 is that it's based on the same paradigm as 1985 -- it's really an interface that's optimized for a mouse and keyboard."
...
Meanwhile, Microsoft's executive suite is in turmoil. CFO Chris Liddell, entertainment unit head Robbie Bach, device design leader J Allard and business division chief Stephen Elop have left within the past year. Ray Ozzie joined the exit parade last week.

IPv6 is the least of their troubles.