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Phoenix Sounds Death Knell for BIOS
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.
That's the problem, there won't really be any alternative, AMI has jumped on board too. Phoenix IS Award so there goes another competitior. The only ones left will be the big giant OEMs, like Compaq, and IBM who last I checked, still made their own BIOS.
~UltraSkuzzi
This comment is liscensed by SCO.
There is also OpenBIOS, an open source 'BIOS' based on OpenFirmware. OpenFirmware is the solution used on Sun, IBM and Apple based machines. OpenFirmware uses a forth interpreter and also presents the hardware as a device tree.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Corporate Headquarters
Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
915 Murphy Ranch Road
Milpitas, CA 95035
Toll Free 1.800.677.7305
Main 1.408.570.1000
Fax 1.408.570.1001
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
IBM and AMI? That's hardly competition, as IBM won't license their BIOS (which is the whole reason Phoenix was started) and AMI is rare now. LinuxBios? Not close to complete! BTW, is the old 1981 IBM BIOS code in public domain yet?
WTF, then, is this?
Here's a list:
IBM BIOS: IBM PCs and laptops
AMI BIOS: umm.. I don't think anyone uses them anymore
Pheonix BIOS: everyone else
Since Pheonix bought out Award, they are basically the only player in the BIOS market.
What I find interesting is that Taiwan's manufacturers have 80-odd percent of the motherboard market worldwide. And, since last I checked they haven't yet been annexed by the United States, I don't really see why they would give a rat's ass about "trusted computing" unless the marketplace demands it. If Phoenix, Award and AMI disappeared from the face of the Earth tomorrow, someone would come out with a compatible conventional BIOS in very short order. About the only thing I can see that would force them to produce DRM-based motherboards for the U.S. market would be some new laws making current designs illegal. That sounds farfetched, until you realize that Microsoft has a HUGE lobbying presence in Washington nowadays, and recently the Federal Government has been proving its willingness to meddle in technological affairs of which it understands nothing (witness the "broadcast flag" requirement for HDTV sets.) So my guess would be to start watching for a new "Consumer Data Protection Act" or something similar to show up in Congress, funded by Microsoft and its allies.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Then buy a mac. Macs don't use bios. They have Open Firmware and Apple is not associated with the TCPA.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
megan@Outcastpr.com
:)
Interestingly they outsource their PR.
Above is the address of Megan Kurtz who is their public relations person. Get mailing now