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A Web Browser in Your BIOS?

Posted by timothy on from the smart-dumb-smart-dumb-terminal dept.

Anonymous Coward points to this article on xbitlabs.com, which begins "At the recently held Computex show in Taipei Phoenix Technology Company introduced its new FirstBIOS based on Linux. Among the major advantages of this product, they mentioned such things as PC wake from different standby modes and integrated means of rapid PC recovery in case of failure." That's not all, though -- the article goes on to say that "the most remarkable thing is that you will be able to get access to Internet directly from this interface either via the traditional modem or local network. In this case the data will be stored in NTFS, FAT32 and ext2 file systems. According to Phoenix, all these features fit into 16Mbit Flash memory."

3 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. BIOS Monopoly by Mulletproof · · Score: 1, Troll

    So is putting a Browser native to the computers BIOS now considered anti-competitve practice? After all, you can't turn it off or remove it and you don't even need an OS to run it... But as long as it isn't MS, it's OK, right? Just some food for thought.

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  2. Source code? by splorf · · Score: 0, Troll
    If this bios is "based on linux", does that mean free source code is available as per the GPL?

    If not, what is being done about it?

  3. Bill is happy. by HellHobbit · · Score: 0, Troll

    Woohoo! Finally they found a possibility to
    include Microsoft spyware in the computers
    most basic piece of software!

    "640K ought to be enough for anyone" - Bill Gates, 1980