The 64-bit question: Microsoft bets on both camps
ENT News | at | by Mike
On April 24, 2002, Microsoft promised the world it would build a desktop version of Windows to run on 64-bit AMD processors. Nearly a year and a half later, Microsoft has delivered beta versions of both Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition designed to exploit the speedy AMD processor.
AMD made its biggest mark cloning Intel PC chips, making them cheaper and, oftentimes, faster. That worked fine in the 32-bit world, but when it came to Itanium, AMD broke with the past. AMD is going it alone, developing a chip incompatible with Itanium, but unlike Itanium, fully backwards compatible with Intel's 32-bit legacy. The market will ultimately decide which of these approaches is most compelling.