Windows "firmware"

(updated 11/23/2010)

Windows as "firmware", rather than software...

On my mind for a while now, I am thinking about how time-saving and secure it would be to have Windows (or another operating system) installed as firmware, rather than as software...

Imagine a computer with well-known, compatible architecture and hardware that has room in it for a special chip you would buy from Microsoft or another OS OEM, and install as you would install a CPU.

This special chip would have a complete and working installation of the desired operating system, with only a few retainable input variables, like user name, language and time zone, that could be stored on a CMOS-type memory chip. This could leave the storage device (hard drive, SSD, flash drive) to be almost exclusively for data storage.

Benefits...

quick booting, with no storage device action required
smooth operation, with virtually 100% compatability assured
security for the OS manufacturer - the OS license would be embedded in the chip
security and stability for the user - viruses and malware would be unable to get below the base install of the operating system making for their positive removal should they occur, and disruptive software would not be able to upset basic operations
the OS would have the longevity of a CPU installation, a trouble-free number of years
reduced labour and lower computer assembly cost
reduced piracy and lower operating system cost

As updates come available, users could still download them and install them, and the operating system would become a blend of firmware and software while retaining the benefits of being primarily chip-based. Should the installation become corrupt, users would merely have the task of rolling back to the base install and updating again. As updates become extensive and begin to slow the operating system (because they are not chip-based), users could be offered a trade-in for a newer chip that already has the updates installed.

The storage device would become principally the repository for data and user personalization. If the storage device was removable, imagine the computer to be something that a user could put their storage device into, then use, then extract from, leaving the PC behind for the next user. If user information was only kept on the removable device, this would mean that the computer could be used with complete security in a personalized way.

Here are some real-life difficulties that would become obsolete or have greatly reduced impact with a chip-based installation.

lost installation CDs (or DVDs)
lost authentication keys
lost hardware drivers
corrupted base installations (due to malicious programming or inappropriate user interaction, or due to failing storage media on which the OS resides)
unstable operations and functionality after a period of updates and use
data loss (when a corrupt OS corrupts the storage device and makes data unrecoverable)

All of these items add to the cost of repair, and often move such a repair into the world of technicians, when a chip-based installation would alternatively mean that most users would be readily able to handle system corruption on their own with a simple and positive restore function.

Significantly, data loss would become less the result of systemic failure and more the result of failed storage media. Better storage media and prudent redundancy (making multiple copies and storing these copies in diverse locations) could reduce the chance of data loss to an insignificant level and perhaps make data loss the result of irresponsibilty and negligence.

Chip-based application firmware...

The concept of chip-based application firmware could be carried further to where the motherboard could have perhaps three additional locations for secondary software you need, so you could buy a major program like Microsoft's Office or Adobe's software suites and have them installed as a chip, too. All the benefits of reduced cost, and improved speed and performance would hold for these as well.