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To: Paul Engel who wrote (59136)	6/30/1998 6:39:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Intel Investors - Microsoft May Be Serious with CHROME - Helping Intel out to the n'th degree. Here is yet another story about Microsoft's upcoming CHROME - for none other than the mundane task of "Surfing The Web". Microsoft claims (still) that it needs a 350 MHz Pentium II to run properly. In "Microsoft speak", that probaby means "350 Mhz Pentium II MINIMUM, 500 MHz XEON recommended". If this turns out to be very popular for Windows 98, it could energize the PC marketplace for High Power CPU upgrades! Does the term "Killer App" ring any bells? Note that Chrome will use DirectX 5.0 - leaving AMD's K6-2 out in the cold since it requires DirectX 6.0. Thank you, Bill Gates! Paul {============================} Chrome Could Drive Hardware Upgrades by Malcolm Maclachlan, TechWeb June 30, 1998 (11:22 A.M.) techweb.com One of the most anticipated features of the new Windows 98 operating system hasn't come out yet. But when it does, it may drive a need for faster processors among users ranging from game enthusiasts to financial analysts. Chrome, a package of graphics features due out for Win 98 users in early 1999, will demand a lot from a user's machine -- a minimum of a Pentium II 350-MHz chip, 64 megabytes of RAM, a 100-MHz bus, and an accelerated graphics port. In return, users get interactive, high-resolution 3-D graphics. And developers get a way to deliver such graphics over the Web in a lower-bandwidth format. "Internet bandwidth is going to increase rapidly, but internal bandwidth will increase even more rapidly," said Kathy Carr, a project manager for Microsoft's Chrome. Essentially, Chrome tries to take the onus off the connection and put it on the processor. It uses DirectX 5.0 graphics software, Extensible Markup Language, Virtual Markup Language, and HTML to create a set of frameworks for graphics. These frameworks predefine parameters for Web graphics, such as bitmaps or flying logos. Chrome-optimized sites can then deliver these at a fraction of their former file sizes. This lets sites display more information. For instance, a site that uses Chrome can display several Web pages, each tilted part-way away from the observer, letting the user scan through several pages at once. "Microsoft looks at Chrome as a whole new class of content," said Leslie Evans, a product manager for DirectX. "It will change the way we interact with information on PCs." At least in the short term, however, analysts have determined this and other Win 98 technologies are improvements that would appeal mostly to game players -- not business users. For instance, said analyst Rob Enderle of Giga Information Group, Chrome could be great for someone playing a game such as Quake over a network. By optimizing the use of graphics, a player could easily view maps and injury reports without changing modes in the game -- giving them advantages over non-Chrome using opponents. Other Win 98 upgrades, such as browser and even television integration into the OS, are also seen of primary interest to consumers. Research shows Win 98 would sell 85 percent of its copies to a home audience, said Dataquest analyst Chris Le Tocq. However, Enderle said Chrome has potential in some business markets, especially among knowledge workers who must handle a number of information streams. Many financial analysts work with three or more monitors on their desks, each hooked up to relatively dumb machines, Enderle said. Having all that information on one screen connected to a powerful system would make life easier for analysts and their IT departments. Furthermore, Microsoft knows pushing software upgrades will help Chrome become a standard, which, in turn, will push more sales of Win 98, he said. "Chrome has the potential -- if it is done right -- to become the cost of entry for doing multiple things at once," Enderle said.