Increasing occurrence of platform problems

[Ben Scott]

On 4/13/07, Seth Cohn <sethcohn at gnuhampshire.org> wrote:
> Apples and Oranges... video card firmware wasn't the topic.  It was
> Bios we were discussing.

  Um, video cards have to provide BIOS services (INT10).  They also
have to interface with the various firmware standards for device
discovery, power management, and so on.

> I never said it was.  But it would still be better than the closed
> source solution put forward by Apple/Sun/etc/etc...

  I'd agree that it would be "better", but I still don't think it
would be an automatic "solution" to the problems put forward in the
original post.

  Don't get me wrong, I prefer Open Source.  I just don't think it's
magic.  Sprinkling some Open Source pixie dust on the IBM-PC
architecture won't solve those problems.

> Given a simple fixed purpose like BIOS(es), crap code won't get used
> or spread.

  That's rather optimistic.  Look again at GNU tar; that's darn near ubiquitous.

> ... we're talking I want to boot off USB.  Either it works, or it dies.

  "Works" isn't a binary state.

>>   Further, in the context of the discussion, Open BIOS would be just
>> another de facto standard/industry consortium.
>
> I linked to a few alternatives, so it's not about making a new single
> standard, it's about allowing choice.

  That makes the issue I was referring to worse.  Choice is a good
thing, yes.  But with it comes the necessary ability to disagree.  To
choose things that are incompatible with each other.  That's
ultimately the issue with the IBM-PC world; there's a lot of stuff out
there, and there's no central standards body which decrees the "right"
way to do it.  That's one of the prices of freedom.

  My point was just that if you want someone to make all the
decisions, go with Sun/HP/Apple/etc.  They don't have the problem of
vendor incompatibilities, because there's only one vendor.  If Apple
needs to add power management capabilities to their hardware, they
just say "This is how we're gonna do it", and that's that.

  The drawback to having only one vendor is the same as with any
dictatorship.  It's fine as long as your agenda is the same as the
dictator's.  Disagreements, however, tend to be painful.

-- Ben