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Phoenix Sounds Death Knell for BIOS

Posted by michael on from the pay-attention dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "The sky will fall next.... Betanews is carrying a story about Phoenix ditching the trusty old BIOS and moving to 'Trusted Computing'... ya right... Time to stock up on those old motherboards boys!" A follow-up/analysis on this story.

17 of 658 comments (clear)

  1. Trust Me. by dolo666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bios changes to "trustworthy computing" make me just as scared as when my wife and I went car shopping at Gan Chev Olds and they said "Trust Me. This is a great deal!". Boy did I ever get screwed on that "deal". *sigh*

    Since when does it make sense to switch the onus for security to hardware?

    Oh I knew it was time to buy a Mac! With Doom 3 being fully supported on Mac on launch, it's going to be hard for people to criticize Mac for a lack of games. As soon as Uncle Sam rubs his greedy hands together, to try and get all our secrets, it's time for a switch, IMHO. I'm developing my open source Doom 3 project on a Mac, so I'll be playing on one too. Maybe once Doom 3 is on Mac, the next generation of Id-engine-spinoffs will make for a slaughterhouse of new games for Mac, too!

    1. Re:Trust Me. by Mod+Me+God · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why not run a PC without a BIOS.... it is little needed these days... Any why not email M$ your own devised EULA for them to run Windows (TM(R)(C)etc) on your hardware????

      --
      --

      FreeNET user? Comfortable with the adverse selection?
    2. Re:Trust Me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      a remote-controlled slave terminal...

      You don't live in CA? That kind of terminology will soon be illegal there.

    3. Re:Trust Me. by Geek+of+Tech · · Score: 3, Funny
      Yeah.... kinda like the Xbox.... heaven knows no one will ever see Linux on that.... oh wait....

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      Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
  2. Confusing? by shirai · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does Phoenix ABSOLUTELY have to use acronyms that already stand for something? I mean: CSS and d-NA? I know we are running out of acronyms but there should still be a few million letter combinations left.

    --
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    1. Re:Confusing? by shaitand · · Score: 4, Funny

      dunno I guess zzx8btrq wasn't on the top of their list of choices ;)

    2. Re:Confusing? by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

      I know we are running out of acronyms but there should still be a few million letter combinations left.

      Such as SuX, POS or FUBAR ?
      No, to describe that new bios, they were all taken ...

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    3. Re:Confusing? by Surak_Prime · · Score: 3, Funny

      I've grown convinced that the MPAA/RIAA/Software Companies/etc. (copyright holders, in other words) have begun doing this to foil search engines for downloading or circumventing their stuff.

      Look at a list of the hit movies for the last couple of years, if you don't believe me... what are you going to get searching for downloads of 'xXx' ?

      --
      :::The Spear in the heart of the Other is the Spear in the heart of You; You are He - Surak of Vulcan:::
  3. If they hadn't invented that, someone else would by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

    If all goes according to plan, a new product the company dubs Core System Software (CSS) will serve as the foundation of PC architecture.

    DeCSS anyone?

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  4. Tinfoil hat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Time to put on our trusty tin foil hats on our motherboards... wait...

  5. Phoenix is burning by mikeophile · · Score: 4, Funny

    And I don't think they'll be rising again after this shark-jumping stunt.

  6. brockman by TedCheshireAcad · · Score: 5, Funny

    I for one welcome our new trusted computing BIOS overlords...

  7. Re:Or, buy a Mac... by ultranova · · Score: 5, Funny

    Assuming that it will continue be legal to make motherboards without DRM. After all, only a music-sharing communist hippie open-source fundamentalist copyright-infringing file-sharer would want them.

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  8. Best quote by Kenrod · · Score: 4, Funny

    "One of the great computing challenges of this decade is to bring all network-connected devices to common management standards and interfaces," said Martin Reynolds, vice president at Gartner. "Without such technology, device and network management becomes impossible."

    People PAY Gartner for conclusions like that?

    --
    Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!
  9. CSS? by jimmer63 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If all goes according to plan, a new product the company dubs Core System Software (CSS) will serve as the foundation of PC architecture.

    When will we have DeCSS?

  10. Nothing to worry about by scifience · · Score: 4, Funny
    This is nothing to worry about. If we think logically, we will see that:

    (1) Microsoft makes Trusted Computing stuff.
    (2) Nothing Microsoft makes is secure.
    therefore
    (3) Trusted Computing will be easily hackable so that it can be replaced with another BIOS.

    Now, Microsoft will probably and try to make this illegal, just like they have tried to make mod chips illegal. Last time I checked, though, it was perfectly legal to hack your own PC or other hardware.

  11. Re:I'll sue if that happens by DickBreath · · Score: 3, Funny

    You will just shut up, swallow it just like you swallowed WPA and will say that "you will sue" when (not if) they will do the next step.

    You will take it the way Microsoft gives it to you, whether this means bend over, or whether it means the swallowing part.

    There is a reason that it is called longhorn. Because you're going to really get screwed this time.

    Any questions?

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.