“Microsoft revealed today [at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF)] that it will not support EFI booting for Windows Vista on its launch. The news will be a shock for owners of Intel Macs who had hoped they would be able to dual-boot between Windows Vista and OS X. Intel Macs only support booting via EFI,” Dan Warne reports for apcmag. “Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is the modern and flexible successor to the 20-year-old PC BIOS. It is responsible for initialising hardware in the PC, and importantly, device drivers are stored in the EFI flash memory rather than being loaded by the operating system. It is a major change for the PC industry and both PC makers and Microsoft have been slow to make the switch. Because the Apple Intel Mac platform is entirely new, it does not have any legacy support concerns. It was hoped that 2006 would be the year PC makers would make the switch. Microsoft’s lack of Windows support is a huge blow to Intel’s hopes, and removes most of the incentive for PC makers to implement it in the short term.”
“That’s terrible news for Intel Mac users who have been hoping that they could dual-boot Windows and Mac OS X on their new Macs: not only are their processors not 64-bit (and thus will never be supported by Windows EFI booting) but Windows Vista won’t boot on EFI anyway,” Warne reports.
Full article and link to unedited recording of Microsoft’s revelations about Vista at IDF. (21.6MB, MP3)here.
“Apple Senior Software Architect Cameron Esfahani said that his understanding is that only 64-bit versions of Vista will support EFI. To this point, all of the Intel Macs have used 32-bit chips,” Ina Fried, reports for CNET News. “‘I don’t think so’ he said, when asked whether Inte Macs should easily run Vista. Esfahani was speaking at the Intel Developer Forum here–to a packed room despite the session being the last of the conference. In addition, while EFI has the prospects for supporting many older types of software and hardware, Apple has not included much of that “legacy” code in its EFI implementation. ‘Windows is a legacy OS,’ he said to laughter and applause from the crowd. ‘We don’t have legacy support.'”
Full article here.
“I’m not sure why Microsoft decided to drop EFI support after having promised up until now that it would be included in Vista. Intel, the creator of EFI, has really been pushing it and with support from both Apple and Microsoft, it wouldn’t be long before it completely replaced the BIOS. There’s no doubt that this announcement has Intel more than a little bit miffed. One would also think Microsoft would realize the great opportunity it has here to make inroads into the Mac market. Apple’s computer sales have been rising recently under the halo effect of the iPod so their marketshare is significant. That also means that a lot of new Mac users are recent Windows converts and I’m sure that many of them wouldn’t mind running both operating systems. In any case, it will be interesting to see how this turns out,” David Johnston writes for RealTechNews.
Full article here.
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‘Windows is a legacy OS’
That’s the quote of the week. And it couldn’t be any more true either.
<yawn> Whatever..do not now, nor plan to in the future, make any effort to install Windows anything on any Mac I have now or will have in the future.
MW-going. Macintosh.. going its own way for 22 years
Say wha?
Figures. Vista is just another version of XP in a new tin can. Seriously sad. You’d think with the multiple versions that they are going to make they would at least have ONE version that would suppose EFI.
MDNews Magic Word: “Alone” as in “Sputnik is alone in thinking that no EFI support is a good thing”
This is irrelevant. Dual booting is fairly pointless when working. What is needed is something like VPC which runs on the Intel Macs so XP/Longhorn can run inside OS X as a separate process. That way it stays as a proper Mac but allows you to slum on the mean streeets of Windows when required.
Why would Microsoft help Mac market share? Of course Microsoft will make it difficult to run Windows natively on Macs. People claiming this would be in Microsoft’s best interests are being silly; Apple is a rival in the digital entertainment space, and increased Mac market share only helps Apple further its goals as well as introduce more people to OS X.
“I’m not sure why Microsoft decided to drop EFI support after having promised up until now that it would be included in Vista.”
“A promise made is a debt unpaid.” Robert Service
“A promise is a cloud, fulfillment is rain.” Arabian proverb
“Promise little and do much.” Hebrew proverb
“No cause of action arises from a bare promise.” Legal maxim
“An acre of performance if worth a world of promise.” Red Auerbach
That goes to show you how much progress Microsoft has NOT made with Vista. If Apple were to do the same as Microsoft all the analyst would be up in arms about why keep such an old technology going for 20 years! Stocks would fall like the new years eve ball if Apple came out with something like this in what is supposed to be a new operating system. It seems like everyone was right. Vista is just going to be XP Plus instead of something all new. Get out your virus updates and spyware blockers PC people, you’re going to need them with Vista the all OLD operating system is coming back to haunt you once more.
It’s not all bad news though, you can choose from seven different versions of Vista that I’m sure will clean out your bank account really well.
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M$ just shot themselves in the foot. More and more folks are going to care less and less about Windoze, and this move just casts that in bronze.
It’s kinda fun watching the end of M$. Granted, it’s probably a ten year journey, but i’m enjoying it so far.
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Microsoft would slash its own wrists if it thought it would hurt mac sales
What? You think anyting we promised for Vist was a sure thing? Ninety percent of what we promisd has already been dropped. I fuigure we got anohter 9 percent to work with and still not be complete liars.
Steve Jobs wishes he could pull this kidn of crap off and get away with it like we do.
Yeeeeehhaaaaaaa!!!! I love this company!!!!!!!!
I call bullshit. If Mac OS X can be hacked to run on a BIOS system then Windows Vista can be made to run on EFI systems.
Whatchoo talkin’ bout, Ballmer?
“Why would Microsoft help Mac market share?”
“Microsoft would slash its own wrists if it thought it would hurt mac sales.”
Well it would be easy for Microsoft to hurt Mac sales and market share. Just discontinue all Mac applications and support.
Ain’t gonna happen. Microsoft will be a Mac developer as long as possible because Apple is their R&D Idea Factory.
And MS makes good money from Mac app sales.
M$ are weak. They’re only using EFI with 64 bit Vista. It’s going to take a long time to bring the whole world to new supporting hardware.
These are business moves to maximize profit, not innovation. It would have been like Henry Ford building two versions of the Model T: one with rubber wheeels, the other with fastened-on horse shoes.
What will it matter with universal coding? MS has to do something to trap idiots into it’s OS. If all programs came universal, why would anyone use MS? Oh, I forgot there are still a billion idiots out there.
Why, Bill? I thought you would be more happier to boot up MacOSX on your Dell computer?
Bill, just confess it publicly. You have been using Apple OS ever since. That’s why you have developed Windoze 95 (Sys 7), and now VISTA (OS X Tiger), which I seriously think that is a stupid name.
You have been secretly carries Mac Note Book where ever you go. When nobody is around, you joyfully take out the Mac note book and use it……
You have told me all this when we met privately. You told me that you would LOVE to boot up Mac OS X with the Dell laptop. But now, BILL, Why are you always like to take back your word?
Maybe Bill thinks he can stick with BIOS and leave Apple stuck in an EFI dead-end. “If we don’t support it, it’ll die” kind of thinking. I wouldn’t put it past him.
did you really think m$ would give you a cheap option to running windows on your mac? course not, they are going to make you buy THEIR virtual pc software making you pay even more for their operating system (if you can call it that)
windows vista home n for mactintosh pro 200X+ one year onecare subscription has a certain ring to it
Er, am I alone in having no desire to run Windows Vista on my Intel iMac?
It really says it all, the new intel macs can support EFI because they have no Legacy concerns. Of course they don’t – no individual machine does – the OS does though. Somehow, Apple had no problems with this though, they managed to have their pre-existing OS work absolutely fine using it, so much so that it was barely mentioned apart from in relation to Windows and getting that to run.
OS X obviously works with both BIOS and EFI with no discernable problems, Vista does not despite being (supposedly) brand new and made by a company with vastly bigger resources, who have been working for ages on this particular iteration and who still have time to continue working on this iteration.
Admittedly Microsoft have a bigger job in terms of compatibility with hardware (of their own making – enforce some requirements?) but they’re a bigger company. Funny.
Speaking as a convert from the Dark Side, you can keep that filthy rag of an OS away from my X.
Question: what are the respective advantages/disadvantages of BIOS vs EFI.
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Or is EFI just superior in every way?
Thanks
I guess M$ have done this so that Vista will boot on existing PCs, which do not have EFI.
So now Redmond are going to tie their latest-and-greatest super-innovative revolutionary operating system to BIOS, a 20-year-old obsolete technology.
Microsoft just shot itself in a vital organ. They obviously think that with AMD as another chip supplier they can dictate to Intel. It just goes to show how their arrogance has clouded their ability to recognise a gamble worth playing.
Buy shares in RHAT and NOVL. This could get interesting.