🚀 go-pugleaf

Everyone interested in the "OS Wars" will surely be interested in this!

The most recent PC Week had this to say about Intel's P6 chip:
----clip----

When Intel Corp.'s next-generation P6 processor arrives in systems late this
year, it will offer only meager performance gains when running Windows 95, 
leading many PC makers -- and corporate buyers -- to bypass the new operating
system in favor of Windows NT or OS/2 Warp. 

Testing of the preproduction Intel microprocessor shows that Windows 95 runs 
only about 10 percent faster on P6 than on a high-speed Pentium processor 
because of the significant amount of 16-bit code in the operating system,
according to leading PC makers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

Since the P6 is optimized for native 32-bit unsegmented code, running 16-bit 
code results in continued switching of memory segments, and thus, slower
performance, according to sources close to Intel. 

An official at another top 10 PC company concurred. "The only operating systems
appropriate for P6 platforms are those that are true 32-bit, such as NT or OS/2
Warp," said the executive. "We will test for Windows 95 compatibility and
certification but will not ship it with our P6 [systems]." 

Meanwhile, Microsoft officials say they have no immediate plans to optimize
Windows 95 for the P6. 

---clip---


   Other articles spoke of the P6's performance stating that 32-bit applications
will run as much as twice on a P6 than on a Pentium at the same clock speed
due to the P6 being optimized for 32-bit code.  That's quite a bit better than
the measly 10 percent increase for Windows 95 users!  By the end of 1995, the
mighty Windows 95 will be crippling the performance of all your precious 32-bit
Windows apps that you just spent so much money on!  Windows 95 is a dead end
not a fresh beginning.  Don't waste your money and your time with it.  Go for
OS/2!

   After hearing this, it seems to me as though nobody in their right mind would
"upgrade" to Windows 95.  So the alternatives are NT and OS/2.  Seeing as NT
isn't really viable for the home user (unless you have a massively powerful
system) and has such compatibility problems, OS/2 is the clear choice of the
future.  Besides, a failure of Windows 95 (which is actually looking quite
possible if people get informed in time) would mean that Microsoft would be
dead in the water in the OS arena.  The OS/2 market will boom if people have
any sense!


Rob Vanden Heuvel

The facts speak for themselves, I just reiterate them.