Microsoft Corporation said Tuesday it would delay the release of its 64-bit operating systems for computers based on x86-64 processors to the first half of 2005 from this year citing necessity for additional “tuning and testing” time for the systems.
“We now anticipate Windows Server 2003 SP1 and Windows Server 2003 for 64-bit Extended Systems will ship in the first half of 2005, whereas we previously estimated the release timing for both to be the end of 2004. Additionally, given Windows XP 64-bit for 64-bit Extended Systems is also tied to Windows Server 2003 SP1, it will also ship the first half of 2005,” a Microsoft spokeswoman told eWeek.
Microsoft originally planned to release its operating systems for systems powered by x86 processors with 64-bit capability in late 2003 or early 2004. However, in mid-October 2003 the world’s largest software maker said it would only be in a position to ship the new products only in Q4 2004.
“Microsoft wants to allow sufficient time for tuning and testing of [Windows Server 2003] SP1 and x[86-]64, particularly for the server-relevant security enhancements from Windows XP SP2, which is due to release to manufacturing in August,” the spokeswoman for Microsoft said.
Currently Microsoft offers beta versions of its operating systems for 64-bit Extended Systems to those who want to preview capabilities of the new software. However, publicly available beta versions of Windows for x86-64 computers cannot be installed on systems based on Intel’s x86-64 processors, it was recently discovered.
Transition to 64-bit Inevitable
“The shift to 64-bit computing on the desktop is nearly here… This is going to be a really wonderful transition,” Bill Gates promised during an hour-long talk at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in Seattle earlier this year.
Right now the software giant is making tremendous efforts to convince hardware manufacturers to develop drivers for forthcoming 64-bit operating systems for desktops. The necessity for the move is very high, as with no drivers for the majority of hardware, personal computers with 64-bit processors with 64-bit OS will not become popular among end-users.
Microsoft Corporation is projected to deliver a version of Windows XP for 64-bit x86 processors by the end of the year and it means that at least some hardware used in personal computers should function properly with such operating system.
Microsoft and its products have historically been a major driving force for technology progress. In the past, the new versions of the company’s operating systems encouraged customers to switch to newer hardware, including Pentium 4 processors from Intel. But as Intel keeps away from desktop 64-bit chips right now, its arch-rival AMD is gaining momentum with its Athlon 64 and Opteron processors for mobile, desktop and server applications that can work in both 32-bit and 64-bit modes.
By the end of next year nearly all CPUs from Advanced Micro Devices will be 64-bit capable, according to estimations. With hundreds of thousands and millions of AMD64 chips shipped in 2003 and to be supplied in 2004 respectively, there is a huge target market for Microsoft’s new operating systems that take advantage of the x86-64 technology.
Intel promised to deliver its desktop processors with 64-bit capabilities when there is a right infrastructure to support such chips, e.g. operating system and enough drivers for various types of hardware. With Windows XP for 64-bit desktop machines coming later this year, Intel should address the emerging market.
Comments currently: 3
Discussion started: 07/28/04 05:47:43 AM
Latest comment: 07/28/04 05:21:10 PM
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1.
Wow so much to say
The ONLY chip that right now is proven to work with XP-64 is the AMD64 series. 6 months after Intel's promise to match with similar abilities we have no proof at all that they work - and since Intel always feeds the press early when it has good news, that means the news pretty much stinks on the Intel front.
Frankly Intel has a lot of internal pressure to not bring this to market too fast, worse they have to copy someone else's architecture so it's likely to perform worse, and finally the top end AMD64 chips beat the pants off Intel's P4's. AMD64's are faster at office work (one side of the fence) and gaming fun (the other side of the fence) and have been heralded by MS for their superb quality!
And further when XP-64 comes out Intel will have had a few months to work out bugs and provide fixes, while the AMD portions will have had a year to show their ins and outs. That means that driver writers, code writers of all sorts have EXPERIENCE with the AMD64 platform, come the release time, which pays a huge dividend over time to the end user. Fixes will come faster for AMD64, fewer issues will crop up for AMD64 and with the AMD side of things you have nothing but a company motivated to bring you 64bit on the desktop. Intel is motivated to slow the boat down as much as they can, so you can expect the "little things" to come up to annoy the experience.
Now as far as MS's issues go, I think they've learned some things from XP SP 2, that they have found have to be fundamentally incorporated into the OS. And they probably realize that means a lot of new coding and testing for XP-64. Since we are all aware of the failings of XP and IE, we, as users, probably need to have SP2 and the changes it will bring. Thus, you should expect that XP-64 will need those same changes thus when they finish SP2 for XP, they'll have to get a lot of folks to work on bringing those same changes to XP-64. What does that mean? It means a few more months of waiting, rather than having an OS now, that you'll just have to add a SP to in a few months.
When Intel had a flag to wave (32 bit transition) they waved it high. I suspect now, they have a lame dog that is hard to get working and doesn't perform well. Intel, of course, could happily provide a working version of XP-64 on their cpu platform and prove me wrong. But they probably can't even get that right...
[Posted by: Anemone | Date: 07/28/04 05:47:43 AM]
2.
Eeeh, its already been known that Intel's EMT64 will be slower than AMD64 because some functions are emulated in the P4, while in AMD64 CPUs its full hardware.
Intel does not intend on taking AMD64 full time or even as long as AMD is insisting...It'll get involved, screw with it and then push the Itanium line in. Why do you think Intel hasn't dropped the Itanium? (And NASA is building a huge 10000+ CPU Itanium cluster for space research). In true 64bit, Itanium kicks AMD64's ass. (AMD knows this, and K9 is under development for it.)
AMD64 CPUs have the advantage of the ability to use both 32bit and 64bit...Its not a pure 64bit CPU...More like a "transitional CPU". It lets customers gradually fit into the 64bit market...Until K9 comes.
[Posted by: 22 | Date: 07/28/04 04:53:09 PM]
3.
Agreed, but it will be a decade before you see Itanium successors running Doom5 on your desktop. So we both know that EM64T won't really fly, not now, and likely not ever.
[Posted by: Anemone | Date: 07/28/04 05:21:10 PM]
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