Intel is tipped to unveil a new PC design tomorrow that uses the Universal Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) platform, the next-gen replacement for the 22 year old BIOS.
UEFI is already in use in Apple Macs, but other PC makers have been slow to adopt it because Microsoft has not yet released a version of Windows Vista that can boot on UEFI.
Intel CTO Justin Rattner will make the announcement tomorrow in his opening keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum Beijing.
Intel China tech chief Wenn-Hann Wang: BIOS is on the way outIntel China's technology chief Wenn-Hann Wang foreshadowed the UEFI announcement in opening remarks to press and analysts this morning.
"Without wanting to steal the thunder from Justin Rattner's keynote speech tomorrow, we are very pleased with progress [on UEFI adoption] we have made with Apple, server makers, and the PC you will see tomorrow in Justin's keynote," he said.
Apple is the only desktop PC maker that has been able to introduce UEFI, because it was able to modify Mac OS X to boot on UEFI at the same time that it switched to Intel x86 architecture.
Microsoft disappointed Mac users by announcing at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco a year ago that it would delay support for UEFI booting in Vista, and that it would ultimately only ever become available on the 64-bit version of Vista.
Apple countered Microsoft's postponement of support for UEFI by introducing Boot Camp, which included a firmware update that added a BIOS emulation layer to the EFI firmware system used by Macs.
Speaking at Intel Developer Forum Beijing today, Wenn-Hann Wang said the company had been working with local industry to adopt UEFI and drop BIOS, and had been "very successful" to date.
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