The future is 64-bit and imminent claims Gates

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 5 May 2004 at 16:52

Gates predicts that within two years the move to 64bit computing will pretty much be done

In his keynote at yesterdays' Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2004 conference Microsoft's Chief Software Architect Bill Gates said: 'between now and the end of 2005, we'll go from having very few 64-bit chips out there to virtually 100 percent what AMD ships, and the majority of what Intel ships within less than two years will be 64-bit capable chips.'

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition for 64-Bit Extended Systems, he said, is on track for a fourth quarter 2004 release. 64-bit editions of other Windows versions, such as Tablet PC and Media Center will also be available. However, he urged hardware makers to speed up their development work on 64bit drivers.

Also on show was a Windows Home Concept PC, co-developed with HP, and featuring the latest of Microsoft's media and communications technologies, including a remote control that doubles as a telephone handset.

It also featured instant-on capabilities that allow the PC to power down while still performing background tasks such as recording TV shows and can then boot straight back into PC mode again.

Also featured was a new release of Microsoft's next version of Windows, Longhorn, which would be available to developers next year. A final release of Longhorn is slated for early 2006.