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Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

johndrew
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Posted January 19, 2012 at 10:20AM

From reading a recent report I see that W8 is to cause the traditional BIOS to become a thing of the past.

Is this progress in real terms or another option for MS to gain control over the use of their products and what will it mean for those who have no wish to use Windows or to dual boot?

There may also be the opportunity for MS to get things wrong and prevent operation of PCs. How does this sit with potential users?

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alan14

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Posted January 19, 2012 at 10:35AM

Apple did away with BIOS years ago, so really it's just MS catching up

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johndrew

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Posted January 19, 2012 at 11:56AM

alan14

I was unaware of that, but then how many Apple users have a dual booted system or buy an 'off-the-shelf' PC to run Mac OS (I don't think it's actually possible). This is a major difference between Mac users and others surely?

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carver

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Posted January 19, 2012 at 7:06PM

From what I have read about Windows 8 it may not be possible to duel boot with say Linux along side windows 8.

One other thing is that any software or firmware will have to be certified to get the PC to boot, in effect locking your PC to Microsoft.

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alan14

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Posted January 19, 2012 at 9:04PM

johndrew

No, legally you can't install MacOS on anything other than Apple approved hardware, but that's just Apple being extremely annoying.

MacOS is built on BSD, which is a form of Unix, it runs on the same hardware as a Windows PC, so there is nothing stopping you from installing MacOS X on an off the shelf PC, and many people have done it

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-install-mac-os-x-on-a-pc-without-using-a-mac/

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OTT_B

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Posted January 19, 2012 at 9:05PM

UEFI mobo's have been around for a while now. In most cases it will only save a few seconds of boot time (ie the POST time of a BIOS motherboard)

johndrew: it's very possible to load OSx onto a 'normal' PC. It's not quite a straight installation, but there are plenty of guides on how to do it without spending any money.

carver: "One other thing is that any software or firmware will have to be certified to get the PC to boot, in effect locking your PC to Microsoft."

Interesting....but I don't understand! Can you explain?

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Forum Editor

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Posted January 19, 2012 at 11:02PM

Transferred to Consumerwatch from Speakers Corner.

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carver

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Posted January 20, 2012 at 6:38AM

OTT_B It's only from various sites I have seen and read enter link description here

There are quite a few sites also mentioning the same thing, basically unless it is sighed off by Microsoft the PC will not boot

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