Microsoft starts CPU architecture team

According to the NY Times today, Microsoft will start a Computer Architecture Group, headed up by a man who runs the Silicon Valley campus.

So perhaps it's time for Intel and AMD to take up the challenge of the OS. For Intel, it wouldn't be too hard - it contributed extensively to the design of Windows 98. Last week it announced a partnership with Glide which will give access to applications from within a browser.

Everytime we've asked Intel about designing an OS it's executives have refused to be drawn on the subject. The man in charge of the group, Charles Thacker, has worked on Xbox designs, spent some time at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, and also worked at DEC.

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