Intel pursues narrow Windows Vista rollout

Tag : Computer Hardware And Software


World's biggest chipmaker and decades-long business partnerof Microsoft Corp, has no immediate plans to roll out the softwaregiant's Windows Vista operating system to all its employees.

"We're in a refresh cycle now and there are a number of factorsconsidered before we select software," an Intel spokesman explainedwithout elaborating.

Intel and Microsoft have for years been known as "Wintel," because the two haveworked together since the early days of the personal computerindustry to tie Intel's microprocessors with Microsoft's operatingsystem.

"We are testing and deploying Windows Vista in certaindepartments," the Intel spokesman said.

The decision by Intel is the latest setback to Vista, which hasfaced slow adoption by large corporate customers, many of which arechoosing to wait for the release of Microsoft's next operatingsystem code-named Windows 7.

Microsoft has targeted a 2010 release for Windows 7.

"There's been very little enterprise-wide uptake of Vista," saidEndpoint Technologies Associates analyst Roger Kay, of big-businessuse of Vista across entire companies. "They look at Vista and say,'We're not going to throw out a bunch of hardware and software."'

Using Windows Vista can often require expensive upgrades ofcomputer hardware, because Vista requires larger amounts ofcomputer memory to run smoothly, among other requirements.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, has about 80,000 employeesacross the globe and maintains a network of about a dozenmultibillion dollar plants that churn out its processors that arethe electronic brains of PCs.