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Next Windows To Get Multicore Redesign

eldavojohn writes "A Microsoft executive announced that the next Windows will be fundamentally redesigned to handle the numerous cores of present and future processors. The article notes that the NT technology underneath Vista has been able to take advantage of multiple processors since 1993, and can now handle 32 or 64 cores. And since Microsoft completely rewrote the 20-year-old GDI/GDI+ model for Vista, what more can (or should) they parallelize? It will be interesting to see how Microsoft tackles the race conditions and deadlocks that come with pervasively multithreaded software and in the past complicated attempts (like that of BeOS) to utilize multiple CPUs. Do you think it's it a smart move to further complicate an operating system to take advantage of multiple cores, or should Microsoft stick to its knitting while applications take advantage of (possibly) more resources?"

3 of 417 comments (clear)

  1. Oh great... by jackb_guppy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now we all will have buy to 8core machines with 16G memory as a minimum model, based on what just happened with Vista.

    How is that helping their customers? Oh yeah, DELL is their customer, not us.

  2. What about the adoption of 64-bit? by therufus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why bother talking about multi core supporting operating systems when we still haven't embraced 64-bit technology yet. Why bother pushing for a new technology when the current 'new' technology hasn't even been implemented yet. IMHO, Microsoft should have made Vista 64-bit only and kept XP alive for the 32-bit people who don't want to migrate. This would force people to write 64-bit drivers and software in order to be on 'average Joe's' new PC. Instead, they've done what they've been doing for the past 30 years, compromising due to lack of adaptation.

    Now I'm no supporter of Microsoft. I personally hate them. But you have to see where I'm coming from.

    I recently built a new PC for my parents. It was a simple box with a Sempron 3000, 1gb DDR, 80Gb HDD, etc. It was all 64-bit compatible so I though Vista Home Premium 64-bit would be the best way to go. Their scanner isn't supported, their antivirus isn't supported, and the devices and software they use that DO work on Vista, are all running in 32-bit mode because there is no equivalent for 64-bit.

    Please lets implement the great technology we have before concentrating on the future.

    --
    You moved your mouse. Please restart Windows for changes to take effect.
  3. Re:And in five years... by Slashcrap · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Five years from now Windows will support multiple cores. Which is what OS X is doing on my MacBook Pro RIGHT NOW.

    I believe the largest SMP system that OSX has ever been run on is 8 cores. Windows has run on a 64 CPU system and Linux on a 1024 CPU system.

    So I'm kind of struggling to understand how OSX is superior in this regard. I know there must be a technical explanation, because it's not like Mac owners to post single lines of obvious bullshit in an attempt to advocate their systems while actually just annoying the fuck out of everyone.