AMD hails Windows 7 RTM

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 28 July 2009 09:51

Opinion and Analysis

One for the "he would say that, wouldn't he?" department: AMD has welcomed Microsoft's announcement that Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing (RTM).

The arrival of Windows 7 is likely to provide a boost to hardware sales, as people still on XP skip over Vista, and people who bought Vista-capable hardware in advance of that OS's launch approach hardware-refresh time.

AMD's talking up the benefits of using Windows 7 on its hardware, presumably hoping to break Intel's streak with the Core family and more recently the Atom that's been widely used in netbooks.

"Working with Microsoft, AMD has focused on addressing customers' top computing priorities such as superior visual experience, better PC entertainment, a stable platform and great power management technology to help Microsoft deliver an outstanding, dynamic Windows 7 environment for consumers and businesses alike," trumpet AMD officials.

They point to future AMD graphics cards' support for the DirectX 11 compute shader for improved performance, AMD-V support for Virtual PC and Windows XP mode, and the way AMD technology and Windows 7 together reduce overall power consumption.

Microsoft is suitably complimentary in return.

"AMD continues to be a great industry partner and we are very happy to work with them to deliver great premium experiences for our mutual customers.   With technology such as DirectX 11 graphics cards, AMD understands PC users needs by providing a dynamic entertainment experience," said Mike Ybarra, Microsoft's general manager of Windows product management.

"Because we worked closely with AMD in the development and test process of Windows 7, users running Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional on an AMD-based platform can experience a rich, fast computing experience," he added.

Could these glowing remarks have something to do with Intel's push towards Linux on netbooks (Moblin)?