Microsoft Plans 128bit Windows 8 & Cancels Works

Author	Gordon Kelly
Published	9th Oct 2009

Microsoft Plans 128bit Windows 8 & Cancels Works

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If you're about to upgrade to Windows 7 and you're unsure about making the jump from 32bit to 64bit don't be - Microsoft plans to have us on 128bit by Windows 8...

The news comes courtesy of some lax LinkedIn profile writing courtesy of Robert Morgan, a senior member of the Microsoft Research Team with more than seven years experience. Though now changed, a cached page of his profile showed his status as:

"Working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and longterm projects. Research & Development projects including 128bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan. Forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP and IBM."

Given the move from 32bit to 64bit (which amongst other things allows far greater RAM to be addressed by a system) has taken so long, the fast jump to 128bit is surprising. Hardware and software support will be required and no doubt the "Forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD" part will be crucial to this. Still, Windows 8 isn't expected until 2012 - three years after Windows 7, so there's time to prep yet.

In related news Microsoft has finally taken the sword to its Works productivity software. The suite - which acted like a budget version of Microsoft Office and came preinstalled on many new PCs and laptops - will be replaced by 'Office Starter'. The Starter edition provides stripped down access to ad supported versions of Word and Excel. The likes of Outlook, PowerPoint, etc are missing, but users will be able to upgrade to a full edition from within the software.

Works disappears after more than 20 years on the market. *Sniff*

Links:
Robert Morgan cached LinkedIn Profile

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MSIC said on 9th October 2009

I'm curious - is anyone aware of even the rumor of a 128-bit CPU (for a home PC)?
Or is microsoft just wanting to look cool so they can say "hey, yeah, we had the softw... more

MSIC said on 9th October 2009

Oh, and as for MS Works, all i can say is thank god! Now there was the kid who hung around the crowd but everyone tried to lose....

Pbryanw said on 9th October 2009

"You cannot infer the integer or address register size of a processor from the width of a bus that it may be connected to."

I think that goes for most thin... more