Intel Planning To End Legacy BIOS Support By 2020, Report Says (phoronix.com)

Michael Larabel, writing for Phoronix: Intel is planning to end "legacy BIOS" support in their new platforms by 2020 in requiring UEFI Class 3 or higher. Making rounds this weekend is a slide deck from the recent UEFI Plugfest. Brian Richardson of Intel talked about the "last mile" barriers to removing legacy BIOS support from systems. By 2020, they will be supporting no less than UEFI Class 3, which means only UEFI support and no more legacy BIOS or CSM compatibility support mode. But that's not going to force on UEFI Secure Boot unconditionally: Secure Boot enabled is considered UEFI Class 3+. Intel hasn't removed legacy BIOS / CSM support yet due to many customers' software packages still relying upon legacy BIOS, among other reasons. Removing the legacy BIOS support will mitigate some security risks, needs less validation by vendors, allows for supporting more modern technologies, etc.

Comments

Will Google end Intel support?

[Anonymous Coward]

Replace Your Exploit-Ridden Firmware with Linux

Google has already been thinking about switching to POWER chips. Maybe this UEFI thing will be the final push they need?

Re:Coreboot

[Anonymous Coward]

You should stick to secure MINIX, as Intel intended.

Re:Force secure boot on unconditionally?

[omnichad]

installing my own keys.....by flipping physical switches

You want to have 2048 dip switches for entering your secure boot key? I'd rather use a GUI for that.