Microsoft, they
are always up to something. We
all know it. There is never a second those people don’t sit down and
relax. That, in a sense,
is why they are in court against everyone’s favorite manly Attorney
General, Janet Reno, because they work so hard and gain so much market
that they are now a monopoly. I
just got a letter today, from Paul Maritz, Developer Group
Vice-President of Microsoft Corp. In it, he stated that the development team is ready to release
Windows 2000. Windows
2000 is a mix between the stability of Windows NT 4.0, and the
usability of Windows 98. Don’t
just think that when Windows 2000 comes out, the team gets a rest. They are already hard a work at Windows 98’s replacement, as
well at Windows 2000’s replacement.

The Brain

We all know that
the CPU is the center, or the brain, of the modern computer. And of course, what would America be without everyone fighting
over that market. To find
out about the history of the CPU, please check out The Soap Opera
History of Modern CPUs. As
of now, Intel has just released the Pentium iii B, in speeds of 533Mhz
and 600Mhz. Both CPUs run
on the 133Mhz FSB. The
odd thing is, that Intel has yet to release a chipset that officially
supports the 133Mhz FSB. The
only Pentium iii compatible chipset is the VIA Apollo Pro Plus. The reason Intel doesn’t have a 133Mhz FSB compatible chipset
(side note: please keep in mind that the BX chipset will make it to
133Mhz, and 90% of the BX motherboards sold today have the ability to
set the FSB to 133Mhz, but Intel doesn’t officially support it) is
because it’s been delaying their i820 Camino Chipset. Why would they do something like that you might ask. Well, it’s because of the type of memory they would like to
use with it. Intel, along
with Rambus Inc. has developed memory, which is higher in bandwidth
(roads on the highway) but lower in latency (speed limit on the

highway) than current PC-133 SDRAM. Of course, like all new technologies, this Direct Rambus DRAM
as it is called, costs an arm, leg, and your first-born child.

So, Intel decided
to delay the chipset, and the RAM, but start selling the CPU. So, this means, that as soon as Intel releases the chipset and
the RAM, those boneheads that bought the new CPU, will be up that
famous creek without a paddle. Intel,
though, did realize that most motherboard makers do have the option to
run the FSB at 133MHz, so they figure, why not put the CPU out. Being its “Next Generation” (which is actually isn’t)
people will want to buy it. The
only thing different between the Pentium iii B and the Pentium iii is
the B runs on 133MHz FSB, while the regular runs on the 100MHz bus. Please keep in mind that tests have proven that an added 33MHz
addition in the FSB doesn’t provide much of a performance boost. The Pentium iii B doesn’t use the new .18micron core, but the
Pentium iii E, and Pentium iii BE will. Now you have a reason to get totally confused. I just threw some new words at you, so I better explain myself.

All right, so
what’s a Micron Process?!? It’s
the distance between the transistors in the CPU. 
The less distance between them, the lower the voltage needed,
which means less heat, and quicker speed. 
To all you over-clocking buffs, that means Processors will
overclock farther.

So what’s
the meat of Intel’s future? After
they issued the B version of the Pentium iii, they will more than
likely issue the E and the BE version along with the i820 chipset, and
Rambus DRAM.

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