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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (41562)	11/16/1998 5:26:00 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Respond to of 1572708

<Anyone wondering why/how Intel will bring Katmai out early without Microsoft Direct 7X support should remember that Intel has a stake in an operating system called BeOS...which Intel has stated that they will use for some "multimedia applications". BeOS is fast in itself because it lacks the legacy of windows 95/98. BeOS only works on Intel Pentium chips, might work on AMD chips and doesn't work on Cyrix chips. Now, I don't know for sure if BeOS will support Katmai instructions but it's interesting that Intel has increased its stake in the company. I wouldn't be surprised if Intel showcased Katmai at the end of February on some machines with dual operating systems. Windows 98 and BeOS...Of course this is speculation but what else will Intel do if Direct-7x isn't around?> Personally, I'm not concerned about DirectX 7.0. If Microsoft is late with this revision, they'll risk losing the very control over the APIs that they sought to gain in the first place. Besides, native support for 3D-Now or KNI in the application is much more important than DirectX support. I'm much more concerned about a timely release of a kernel patch from Microsoft. Unlike 3D-Now, KNI will require a context switch that needs to be supported in the OS kernel. If the patch is late relative to the release of Katmai in late February, Intel is screwed. As for BeOS vs. Windows, I don't think anyone at Intel, even the Microsoft-haters, would suggest that Intel just turn away from Microsoft's operating systems. Also, I don't think that BeOS's support for KNI really matters for the Katmai launch. Tenchusatsu

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (41562)	11/16/1998 10:20:00 PM
From: Paul Engel	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1572708

McMannis - Re: " Anyone wondering why/how Intel will bring Katmai out early without Microsoft Direct 7X " My guess is that Microsoft will issue an update to DirectX called DirectX 6.1 with optimized drivers for BOTH Pentium II and Katmai New Instructions. The Pentium II Optimizations may prove to be more powerful on a Pentium II than 3DNOW Optimized Direct X 6 instructions for the K6-2. Of course, the KNI optimizations coupled with Katmai will truly be impressive - well beyond K6-2 performances. Look for these (Direct X 6.1) to be released along with Katmai in Q1 1999. Paul

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (41562)	11/19/1998 1:47:00 PM
From: Badger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572708

Sorry for the delay in responding, Jim. I was at Comdex until yesterday. BTW, though I appreciate the thought, I'm not a programmer at Intel. I'm a writer/online help developer in one of Intel's software divisions. I was surprised at how huge a display Be had at the show. They seem to be positioning themselves as a niche multimedia/video provider a la the old Amiga. I didn't see any prominent references to Intel, but I wasn't looking that hard. Based on what I saw, and with the continued interest Intel has shown in Be, I'd be very surprised if Be wasn't one of the first to implement KNI in their product line. From Intel's point of view, I think they are just trying to diversify themselves as much as possible. This means distancing the company from dependence on Microsoft and their operating systems. Linux, Sun, now Be...maybe doesn't mean a whole lot now, but if any one of these turns out to be the seeds of Microsoft's destruction, Intel is covered. Something about only the paranoid surviving. ;) Regarding Katmai, I think Intel a) is tired of waiting for MSFT to write software that keeps pace with the hardware and has decided to push the issue a bit, and b) needs to continue to be aggressive in cutting prices and raising CPU performance to keep AMD at bay on the low end. Faster Celerons at the high end and price cuts for the whole line really hits AMD and the other chip companies where it hurts. Q1 and Q2 of 1999 will be very telling for INTC and AMD et al, I think. Regards, Badger