4 ms·

Intel has put out a legal fix statement last time around. Similar announcement this time? Looks like bringing ARM power efficiency and crazy parallelism to win

Intel has put out a legal fix statement last time around. Similar announcement this time? Looks like bringing ARM power efficiency and crazy parallelism to windows is only a good thing for consumers.

stefan_ 7y ago
Intel doesn't own x86-64, more commonly known as AMD64.
- phonon 7y ago
  You're forgetting about Intel's SSE2.... (which was incorporated into AMD64).
  - ant6n 7y ago
    Sse2 was introduced in Nov 2000.
    - phonon 7y ago
      Yes, exactly. AMD made it a mandatory part of the AMD64 spec. Before that, SSE2 was an optional part of the ISA. Now, it's required if you support AMD64. Not a problem for AMD, since it had a cross license agreement with Intel, but an issue for anyone else. It's not a coincidence that AMD64 support is being proposed when the AMD64 and SSE2 parents are expiring (likely Microsoft has a license agreement with AMD, given how short of cash AMD was until recently, and AMD's need for MS to support AMD64 in the first place.). So, quite possibly the main holdup for Microsoft to emulate AMD64 has been to wait until the SSE2 patents expired.
xoa 7y ago
>Intel has put out a legal fix statement last time around. Similar announcement this time? AMD64 was announced in 1999 and the spec was out in 2000, with the first implementations in 2003ish IIRC, and Intel releasing its implementations starting 2006 somewhere. While there have been more extensions and new features since then, most of the really key ones from the basic perspective of requirements to run software were early. Which means we're at or rapidly approaching the big deal day when all possible patents expire on all core parts of the ISA. It'll definitely be very interesting to see what happens at that point. As well as Microsoft, it may be something Apple has been waiting for as well. Moving to their own chips for Macs would be a lot easier if they can just flat out implement x86-64 (or at least enough of it) however they want for a transition period or even permanently.

Intel has put out a legal fix statement last time around. Similar announcement this time? Looks like bringing ARM power efficiency and crazy parallelism to windows is only a good thing for consumers.

stefan_ 7y ago

Intel doesn't own x86-64, more commonly known as AMD64.

phonon 7y ago
You're forgetting about Intel's SSE2.... (which was incorporated into AMD64).
- ant6n 7y ago
  Sse2 was introduced in Nov 2000.
  - phonon 7y ago
    Yes, exactly. AMD made it a mandatory part of the AMD64 spec. Before that, SSE2 was an optional part of the ISA. Now, it's required if you support AMD64. Not a problem for AMD, since it had a cross license agreement with Intel, but an issue for anyone else. It's not a coincidence that AMD64 support is being proposed when the AMD64 and SSE2 parents are expiring (likely Microsoft has a license agreement with AMD, given how short of cash AMD was until recently, and AMD's need for MS to support AMD64 in the first place.). So, quite possibly the main holdup for Microsoft to emulate AMD64 has been to wait until the SSE2 patents expired.

xoa 7y ago

>Intel has put out a legal fix statement last time around. Similar announcement this time? AMD64 was announced in 1999 and the spec was out in 2000, with the first implementations in 2003ish IIRC, and Intel releasing its implementations starting 2006 somewhere. While there have been more extensions and new features since then, most of the really key ones from the basic perspective of requirements to run software were early. Which means we're at or rapidly approaching the big deal day when all possible patents expire on all core parts of the ISA. It'll definitely be very interesting to see what happens at that point. As well as Microsoft, it may be something Apple has been waiting for as well. Moving to their own chips for Macs would be a lot easier if they can just flat out implement x86-64 (or at least enough of it) however they want for a transition period or even permanently.