I doubt many of us will lament the loss of BIOS.   It is a testament to Microsoft that they made sure as much software as possible was as backward-compatible as possible for as long as possible by holding onto standards that made mandatory new versions of purchased tools unnecessary - an issue that kept Apple Computer from gaining serious ground in the market.

Faster processors and more memory have really just masked the problem - computers are still a 'turn it on and go get a cup of coffee proposition' unless you leave them in a low power state, which isn't great for the environment.

UEFI – Unified Extensible Firmware Interface – could change all that and mean people will actually turn off machines because it has been built to meet modern needs and could turn ‘on’ in seconds.   Look for UEFI machines starting next year.