Benefits:
- Flexible through 100% Free Software (GPL)
- Fast boot times (3 seconds from power-on to Linux console)
- Avoids the need for a slow, buggy, proprietary BIOS
- Runs in 32-Bit protected mode from the start
- Written in C, contains virtually no assembly code
- Supports a wide variety of hardware and personalities
(UEFI/PCBIOS/GRUB2/OpenFirmware) - Further features: netboot, serial console, remote flashing, ...