UEFI - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface

The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification that defines a software interface between an operating system and platform firmware. UEFI is meant as a replacement for the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware interface, present in all IBM PC-compatible personal computers.[1][2] In practice, most UEFI images have legacy support for BIOS services. It can be used to allow remote diagnostics and repair of computers, even without another operating system. (quote from Wikipedia).
This month’s issue of Full Circle magazine has a great article on what is UEFI that is really concise but also enlightening of what is the purpose of this new kind of firmware. In a nutshell, it explains these topics:

• UEFI is not Microsoft but Windows 8 logo machines must have secure boot enabled
• Users can, if they wish, disable secure boot
• Disabling secure boot leaves Windows 8 vulnerable
• Secure boot keys must be kept secure
• UEFI does not replace the BIOS, but works with it

If unbreakable, this firmware could add some really nice security and reliability features on top of the hardware, but as it’s apparently as vulnerable as the former BIOS, I guess it’s work in progress.
I really recommend, if you’re interested, to download the magazine and read the full article.