Conference decwet::windows-nt

    Any comments on this?
    
    - Dave
    
             <<< HUMANE::DISK$SCSI:[NOTES$LIBRARY]DIGITAL.NOTE;1 >>>
                        -< The Digital way of working >-
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Note 3157.66          HP/Intel 64bit strategic announcement             66 of 66
SMURF::STRANGE "Steve Strange, UNIX Filesystems"     20 lines  20-FEB-1997 18:36
         -< Merced in '99?  I hope the 64-bit NT comment is wrong... >-
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    From PC Week -- the latest guess as to when this thing might possibly
    ship...  That'll mean at least five years from announcement to
    first ship.
    
    Intel's 64-bit 'Merced' chip won't ship until 1999 By Lisa DiCarlo and
     Rob O'Regan
    
    SANTA CLARA, Calif.--Intel Corp.'s first 64-bit processor, code-named
    Merced, is now scheduled to hit the market sometime in 1999.  Contrary
    to widely published reports that late 1998 was the target date for the
    processor, Intel spokeswoman Marion Koehler said the company has never
    publicly committed to a time frame except to say the chip would be
    released by the year 2000.  The shift means that Microsoft Corp.'s
    64-bit version of Windows NT won't appear until 1999.  Microsoft and
    Intel executives said at last September's NetWorld+Interop show that
    they would synchronize the release of their respective 64-bit
    products.  Merced is a high-end server processor with both CISC and
    RISC properties. Intel worked with Hewlett-Packard Co. on the initial
    design; however, Intel will be responsible for manufacturing,
    marketing and licensing.

    Good news on the latest Merced date, eh?
    
    Too bad that the story got bungled with respect to 64-bit NT.  The VLM
    support for NT V5, which WILL run on Alpha, is running, checked in to
    the source pool, and, barring a neutron bomb in the Seattle area, will
    be in NT V5.
    
    Benn

    Is there a date for when NT V5 becomes available?
    
    

According to a Microsofty, end of this calender year. But it may slip.

Alan

    re .10:
    
    >But it may slip.
    
    Ohh nooo... we all know M$ products never slip, don't we?  ;-)
    

Re .8:

VLM support isn't 64 bit Windows NT. Do you know if 64 bit Windows NT won't be 
delayed until Merced, as this story says?

PJDM

RE: .12

	Methinks that words are being minced here.. VLM support *is*
	"64-bit NT" for the forseeable future. Its primary goal is
	to not let NT slip out of the database market. MS wants
	to sell SQL with VLM support.

	Any more 64-bit work will be done by Microsoft when Microsoft
	sees a market demand. My guess is that by 2000, there might
	be something more than databases that will need 64-bit and
	Microsoft will address (no pun intended) it then.

						mike

re .13
>        Methinks that words are being minced here.. VLM support *is*
>        "64-bit NT" for the forseeable future. 

I attended a monthly Microsoft Systech meeting last Friday. The local MS
Systems Engineer regurgitated some futures slides that were presented to a
worldwide audience of MS SE's in Redmond in their annual pilgrimage in January.

The first unsettling slide was titled
"The sky is falling ! I need 64 BIT ! "

It went on to say that NT5 will NOT be 64 bit and the local SE went on to say
that anyone who says it is, is a liar. The listed possible reasons for calling
it 64 bit were "For DEC to make sales".

So, whether WE see it as 64Bit (and Microsoft called it such in its press
release ?) it is very unfortunate that Mecca is spreading the word worldwide
via its SE'S that they are prepared to mince also. Just another exampl of our
wonderful alliance ?

Next time this local SE asks me for a firmware or whatever for the freebie XL
cluster we just GAVE them, I'll make sure I get an order number :(


gruNT

    Since Windows NT 5.0 is not really 64-bit (VLM memory support does not
    make the operating system 64-bit), I can justify comment.  However, the
    "For DEC to makes sales" line is a bit uncalled for.
    
    Ah, our wonderful "alliance".  What do you expect from a Compaq house?
    :-)
    
    --Ron

RE: .14

	I'd be curious to see what the SQL group at Microsoft thought
	of that. The VLM support is primarily so SQL can make sales
	in markets currently dominated by the likes of Digital Unix
	and Oracle/Sybase/Informix.

	I think we can all agree that FULL 64-bit NT is not coming
	anytime soon. As I said, when MS thinks there will be demand,
	they'll supply it. Until then, what is being touted as "64-bit" 
	is just VLM support. But please remember, by Digital Marketing 
	and the	masses, it'll probably be called "64-bit NT"

	Us eng-i-nerds know better.

							mike
				These are just my personal opinions
				and not those of Digital or MS.
				Just because I'm a moderator of this
				notesfile doesn't mean I know what's 
				going on in Redmond or DECwest. :)