AMD wants Microsoft to get its 64-bit act together
WinInfo | at | by Mike
Buyers of PCs based on AMD's exciting new 64-bit microprocessors are probably wondering what's taking Microsoft so long to ship a 64-bit version of Windows XP that works natively with the systems. Well, you're not alone, and now AMD itself is wondering as well. "It's no secret that we're disappointed [Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is] delayed," says Hector Ruiz, the chairman, CEO and president of AMD. Windows XP x64 was originally due in early 2004 but was recently delayed until the first half of 2005. Ruiz says the problem is that Microsoft is concerned about security. I'm not so sure that's true. My take is that Microsoft doesn't want to ship a potentially confusing new release of XP that will likely be dogged by device driver problems when it's released. All Microsoft needs is customers crying about all their hardware products not working because XP x64 doesn't work with the existing library of 32-bit drivers. In other words, it's a support issue, not a security issue.