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ACPI Forced On & Option Disabled in WinXP-Certified Motherboards
stealth_zipper asks: "I just got off the phone with a rep from Soyo Computer Inc trying to get the ability to change IRQs for the onboard hardware. It turns out that because of a deal to get WindowsXP certification, the Dragon-series motherboard ended up having the ability of Enabling/Disabling ACPI in the BIOS disabled. Now FreeBSD has complications with multiple devices on the same IRQs (especially sound, video, and nic all off the same one). Is there a way to get around this for new hardware? Has anyone else encountered this?" Why in the world does XP need this feature disabled, and are there workarounds to get OSes like FreeBSD working properly with motherboards of this sort?
Good post! This kind off sums up the main area of positive influence Microsoft and possibly only Microsoft is able to have - that is the broad influence to enact strategic changes in industry standards. OK half the time they do it in a way that benefits their bottom line and they are quite happy to wreck standards that they perceive (in their rather paranoid worldview) to threaten their bottom line BUT on more than one occasion they have radically accelerated the adoption of technology that may never have seen the light of day otherwise... I am wary to pick any examples cos I am bound to be wrong in the details but I sometimes wonder if how fragmented the industry could become without our favourite evil empire in the picture?