BIOS WARs

With the announcement of the first Intel based Macs a few days ago, many users have rejoiced in being able to dual-boot both Mac OS X and Windows. Unfortunately, this is not the case; due to Apple's use of the extensible firmware interface (EFI) rather than BIOS, current Windows releases will not run on the systems.

With the switch to Intel processors, Apple also moved from Open Firmware to EFI, which is an updated BIOS specification developed by Intel. Advanced features include the ability to boot into an EFI shell and run diagnostics and power up the CPU into a fully functional state immediately.

EFI also separates the control of devices from the operating system, meaning it can initialize hardware before loading the OS. This feature would allow for a system to connect to the Internet and download updated drivers before booting up.

Intel initially deployed EFI as part of its Itanium architecture. As such, Microsoft only included support for the BIOS replacement in its IA64 and later x64 operating systems. While Microsoft plans to add EFI support in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista, a final release isn't due until the end of the year.

Microsoft's 64-bit versions of Windows will also not work despite supporting EFI, because Apple's Intel platform is strictly 32-bit at the moment.

For its part, Microsoft encouraged Apple to build hardware compatible with Windows.
"We have an open specification and a process for certifying the hardware. We welcome all efforts in this area and we'd support Apple the same way we support every other PC manufacturer," a company spokesperson told BetaNews. "Anyone, including Apple, can purchase and re-sell Windows for use on their industry-standard hardware."

Recently, Apple senior vice president of worldwide product marketing Phil Schiller said the company would not specifically block the use of Windows on Mac hardware. Instead, limitations in Windows itself will prevent its use on the new MacBook Pro laptop and iMac.

What is EFI BIOS???

The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is a specification developed by Intel for the software that is run first when a computer is powered up. It replaces the earlier BIOS technology. EFI allows vendors to create operating-system-independent device drivers that are stored within the hardware itself. In that sense, it is similar to Open Firmware, the hardware-independent firmware used in PowerPC-based Apple Macintosh computers, Sun Microsystems SPARC computers, and others. EFI also allows the operating system to run in a sandbox, delegating networking and memory management issues to the firmware instead of the OS. Attempts by the OS to access the hardware are converted to calls to the EFI drivers. The EFI BIOS is also used to select and load the operating system, replacing the need for a boot loader. EFI is one of the pieces of the framework necessary to implement Trusted Computing.


Basically, EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface) is a system in which device drivers and such are in firmware on the hardware itself, instead of in software in the OS. Basically, it makes all device drivers OS-independant. For example, there's no longer any need to find Netgear wireless drivers for Linux, as all wireless cards will talk to the OS in precisely the same way.
Benefit of EFI BIOS• Supports graphical menus and features• Supports mouse-controlled interface• Supports pre-OS applications, file oriented(ex: System recovery, games, media player, Internet browser, etc.)• Supports LAN activating environment• Supports multi-language• UEFI support for x64 versions of Windows Vista are included in a Service Pack 1


MSI’s early anticipation …

Note: MSI P35 Neo3-EFINITY is the first notebook of MSI which was used in EFI Mainboard.


EFI BIOS Support

"MSI will start to phase EFI into its next generation mainboard platform, and will allow much easier accessibility of mainboard BIOS systems. The ability to use a GUI and mouse can only encourage users to attempt to unlock the full potential of today's modern mainboards. Even at this early beta stage we have seen excellent OC potential using current generation of MSI mainboards..About MSI
MSI is proud of its 20 years experience in designing and manufacturing high performance IT products. The product lines of MSI are mainboards, graphic cards, notebooks, consumer electronics, barebones, networking and server products, and fully integrated add-on peripherals. With its ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 qualified facilities, MSI products provide the ultimate performance, reliability and value-increasing productivity. We distribute our products through offices located in Taiwan, United States, Germany, Japan, France, China, Korea, Australia, United Kingdom, Poland, Russia, and The Netherlands.

MSI begins trials for 1st EFI BIOS based Mainboard!

Taipei, Taiwan – Micro-Star International (MSI), one of the leaders in mainboard technology, has just launched its first EFI BIOS based mainboard "EFINITY". EFI, Extensible Firmware Interface, is intended to replace the legacy BIOS firmware interface used by modern PCs. It offers a new and more flexible interface that supports colorful graphical interfaces, multiple languages and has mouse support. New Type of Graphics BIOS SettingsMSI has started to phase-in EFI into its next generation mainboard platform. The ability to use a GUI and mouse encourage users to unlock the full potential of MSI mainboards. EFI also supports LAN, pre-OS applications such as live update, games, instant messenger, media player and a browser. Microsoft will add EFI support to the x64 versions of Windows Vista with Service Pack 1.