PEOPLE GETTING THEIR hopes up for an early release of Windows XP for 64 bit chips can relax a bit longer, they"ll probably not be surprised to learn. According to sources at Intel Taiwan, the earliest we can expect to see such an operating system is at the end of the first quarter of next year. But, the same source added, Microsoft does not talk in terms of quarters of a year, but halves. So it"s entirely possible that the launch of such an operating system could slip right up to the 31st of May next year.