PhoenixNet BIOS update: you can opt-out

[samwichse]

Wooohooo!

That's it, nothing intelligent to add.

[NoCtrl]

I don't want to have to opt in or out. I'm glad it's going away...for now. What's going to be their new business model?

[surrealchereal]

Opt out, I like the sound of that. I think we now have the Option to make that decision because "Sysopt sent a thread heard round the world."



[This message has been edited by surrealchereal (edited 07-20-2001).]

[BBA]

Don't be so modest :O

I think it was in the works as the Epox board had already released the bios removing it before Sysopt forums really got involved in the topic.

[vass0922]

fact remains, that chances are not only our voices were heard... but the voices of the millions of P'ed off people from other areas

Basically they were like utoh well guess that idea sucked lol

[surrealchereal]

BBA, I know what you're saying, and I don't think that just Epox, or just MSI (I expected they would have followed Epox) or just sysopt or just one other group of computer enthusiasts would have made the difference. But I do believe the show of unity made a big difference and caused the solution. I think maybe sometimes we feel too small to matter in the scheme of things. Sometimes we are, but sometimes were not.

[This message has been edited by surrealchereal (edited 07-20-2001).]

[sciport]

If this is for real,
Thank the stars, we deserve better and it's
certainly not by paying your hard earned dollars to get intrusive access by yet more advertising and having spyware reporting your surfing habits to who (or is it whom?) knows.

[edtrip]

Doesn't anybody else find it strange that this was never mentioned sooner? IF it's true that Pnet hasn't been shipped to mobo manufactures since the FIRST quarter, then why didn't Phoenix ever mention it in any of their responses to all the emails we sent them? Why didn't a single motherboard manufacturer send a reply saying that Phoenix is no longer shipping Pnet and hasn't been for 3 or 4 months?

Sure, we heard that Epox was offering Pnet- free BIOS upgrades and MSI is apparently following suit, but given the major stink we all raised, I'd think at least a couple of companies would've jumped up to say......."HEY, hold on people, we're not even using this product anymore, we haven't been since earlier in the year. PhoenixNet is history"

And, if it hasn't been shipped for 3 or 4 months, how come there's still all these BIOS updates out there with Pnet on them? I don't think we should rejoice just yet.....but kudos are in order for making a major issue of it.

[socalgal]

Somehow, I have real doubts that PNet (or MS, and others) will abandon their BIOS tinkering and advertising and / or data mining implementation. This stuff is in the BIOS ROM, folks, and that means when the comp is booted, whatever code is put in there is potentially activated and we might not see plain evidence of it.

Sorry... but I don't trust 'em. Click on and read their *ahem* "Privacy Statement"...
http://www.phoenix.com/pnet/index.html

Their list of sponsors (sad to say Earthlink has jumped on their bandwagon ) is expanding, it seems, I feel, is just beginning. (Well, they were there earlier, perhaps it's my settings... http://www.phoenix.com/pnet/pnet_ebiz.html


I don't think we should give up protesting this by any means.

[NoCtrl]

I think we're going to need a bios cleaning utility.

[gfunkmartin]

I noticed, this article never approached the subject of the performance hit that some users have noticed with Pnet BIOS...I wonder, does this still occur? Also, I don't like the idea of having all sorts of automatic programs pop up on my computer, and staying resident in the system tray. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, is this just a sneaky ploy on Phoenix's part to lull us into a sense of complacency, then quietly deploy the chips anyway? If you will remember, when we first heard about this Phoenix claimed that you could disable the Pnet BIOS if you wanted. Now, they're just doing the same thing, repeating that you can disable them if you want, but running around the issues and concerns that many users may have about this...can this still send information without us knowing?

I agree with SoCalGal on this one...we need to stay suspicious and keep fighting this

[jvittur]

I agree with NoCtrl when he says "I think we're going to need a bios cleaning utility."
This whole "spy" business really sucks! Why do these ppl want info on every computer user anyway?

[alyblu]

I tried to disable the phonixnet on my nephews Iwill vxd motherboard and there is nowhere in the bios set-up that will let you chage it. Is this the motherboard that will need a bios flash to remove it? I cannot delete that stuff off his system. Flustrating!!!