After watching Microsoft cast AMD's 64-bit processor line to the backwoods of the Windows release cycle, you have to ask - did Jerry Sanders do enough? Two weeks ago Microsoft dropped a bomb. It pushed the first Windows Server 2003 Service Pack back to the second half of 2004. And along with the Service Pack go new versions of Windows for both AMD's Opteron (Windows Server 2003) and Athlon 64 processors (Windows XP). This places the Windows for AMD64 release close to nine months behind original expectations, adding risks to an already risky proposition from AMD.
You would think AMD deserves better treatment than this. The company's Chairman, Jerry Sanders, went to some lengths to get Microsoft on board the 64-bit train. Sanders agreed to testify on Microsoft's behalf in the antitrust trial, hoping, in part, that Bill Gates would consider going public about support for AMD's 64-bit chips. This was surely a bitter pill to swallow for a man always crashing against the Wintel collective.
But Sanders' efforts did not go far enough. Microsoft is dragging AMD along like a rag doll for its own convenience. "Microsoft wouldn't inherently have to (keep the Service Pack and OS releases) together, but it's much easier for them to keep things aligned like this," said Gordon Haff, analyst at Illuminata. "And especially with their supposed increased focus on product quality with things like Trustworthy Computing, they're unlikely to shift schedules around willy-nilly."
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News source: The Reg
