| Thursday,
April 18, 2002
I will try this experiment one more time: if the net continues I'll
upload as I write. This is session notes.
Williams gives a keynote at 0900: the speech that ought to have
been given at the first session. Acknowledges that the wireless demo done
by Allchin didn't work, but doesn't tell us why it didn't work. But at
least he acts as if he is talking to a technical audience.
Gates brings out the WinHEC Wars award.
Evolutionary and revolutionary ecosystems, says Bill Gates.
Revolutionary in terms of the things we do. PDA with AI, a central point
of control, all made seamless by XML and all Real Soon Now.
The PC has a very high market share on the desktop. Is taking "a
bit longer" at the server level. Use the architecture of the PC for
server computers--that is happening. (Ie they are really going after the
server market?) "We need to get showcase systems out there so that
people understand why they ought to use PC for servers..."
Continuous improvement loop == using customers as the test lab and QA
department. But this is pretty traditional in the PC world, so I can't
argue that.
Latencies are very hard to improve. Indeed. Unless you can improve
local system AI then much of this can't be done. Devices for reading, note
taking, are up to the Newton almost (my phrase not his) but the Tablet PC
will be out this time next year from 5 different mfgrs. Voice command and
getting microphone to be a standard element is a goal for us. A very
important goal for us. Larger screen areas. LCD's are cheap now.
My observation is that local AI is the thing that is needed, and they
do seem to know that.
Bluetooth as an extension of USB where everything can connect.
Microsoft will have a Bluetooth SDK out shortly and Windows CE already has
that. Coexistent with 802.11; complementary roles. 802.11 is Ethernet
anywhere you go. Learning how to VPN and gateway through if you
visit another corporation.
We want to see wireless networking pervasive.
DEMO: initiate a PC to cell phone call. USB handset for this:
integration of PC and telephone. Keeping phone logs on the PC. Incoming
calls can be filtered, or put on voice mail. Complete PC and phone
integration.
Williams says having multiple monitors on desk ups productivity by 20%
or so. People learn to multi-task. (They are not fiction writers.) Users
are aware of peripheral events, so a focal point primary, and Inverted T
of screens
Richard Doherty says "these are hunter gatherers, not tool makers
or creators." The multi-task fits them...
More demonstrations of graphics and THE ELECTRONIC HOME
Distribution of information around the home...
(The network seems to have crashed: no signal for several minutes now)
Electronic home should have seamless integration of consumer
devices; recognize new devices; put the image on whatever screen you like,
a Mira or a big living room flat screen or anywhere. Enable all that
through the PC, and
show us Dinosaur? In surround sound? But industrial design can make
this part of our daily lives, so that we can reverberate to hard rock at
home controlled by the PC?
Actually, it's an interesting vision although the examples are not what
I would like.
A new concept: TRUSTWORTHY computing. Several product groups took
several months not doing anything in new development but looking at code
for reliability and security. "Trustworthy computing" can't be
an oxymoron. This means going beyond anything that has existed before.
"Let there be security" saith Chairman Bill, and apparently
everyone in the company is marching to that beat.
Software VERIFICATION is back. Edsger Djkstra phone home! Driver
verification.
And this is what he means by an eco-system; that all the parts work
together and has the "guaranteed stability" we all want. The
fault reporting closes the loop and they find that a small number of
problems cause the majority of crashes. This is blue screen reporting, and
they use connectivity to allow you to anonymously send the fault
report.
Crash analysis: now comes the OCA report == login with passport == and
for me nothing happened. No acknowledgment to me. They are claiming they
now actually communicate with you and show you where you can get the fix.
I would be happy if they could do that; with me they didn't do it, but
perhaps that has been fixed now.
Demo of how errors are reported to the company or product group
responsible for the problem. In order of frequency. Next year they hope to
report how many problems solved.
Gates says WiFi not Wiffy; counts WiFi as a success. 802.11 a success.
If there is anything of Microsoft in that "year of progress"
report I didn't see it: they are participating in these new successes of
course. People are thinking about things that are good long term
contributions...
Trustworthy computing is the key element to pull all this together. It
will be expensive and take time but the payoff will be large.
End of Gates speech
Intel now comes forth:
What should we do to make computing better?
Wireless, better batteries, connectivity.
Talking about mature vs emerging markets, and Moore's Law
The goal is to bring computing to everyone at every time and place.
Pervasive computing. Distributed intelligence is pervasive now, not just
PC but cars, houses, cell phones, distributed computing
This year PC number one BILLION will ship and about the same time the
billionth cell phone will be in use. 1.4 billion web pages this year.
INTEL: we are a microprocessor company and will always be. We are also
the world's leading supplier of Ethernet silicon and we are the 3rd
largest communications silicon company
I said it here, echoing Eric, a few years ago: everything is going to
be smart and it will all talk to each other. It is beginning to happen
says Intel, and that is their mission at Intel. Drive this convergence
onto the chip.
It's all smart and it all talks to each other. Everything is smart and
it all talks to each other. Your telephone natters with your toaster about
your bank balance.
BANIAS demo, world's first here; it will be out in 2003
Banias new mobile platform: longer battery life and 802.11 built on,
other such stuff.
World first demo, silicon that is about one week old. Seamless wireless
in notebooks. This is literally the first generation silicon.
We saw 3 GHz systems to play movies, with Hyper=Threading.
"Two processors in one" More performance per chip. 2003
use Hyper=threading
Going to create a safer computing environment: platform level security.
Protect information and assets. Intel is putting secure and trustworthy
computing into silicon for the platform level for delivery. Emotionally
and politically charged: has to be done in a responsible manner. Stay
tuned.
Platform enhancement: graphics, power optimization, web services,
Handheld platforms. Intel in WinCE environment. Mobile chips. Wireless
internet on a chip. WindowsCE.NET on a chip. Common development
environment. See charts for more. (Actually see column for other www.byte.com
articles for more. It won't be here.)
Notebooks are now getting Pentium 4 but we are integrating user
demands, such as power life. Video from Banias design site. The lab is in
Israel.
USER Experience but all the Banias designers don't speak good english.
They sound like Leon in Ronin...
INTEL vd SUN McKinley will to 1.70 as opposed to 1.15 for New Sun
in OLTP... and then comes Madison with almost double that. Shows the
first Madison wafer off the fab.
Thirteen Billion bucks in new fabs for Intel.
The two most difficult years in the history of the industry. Through
all this Intel continued to invest.
We will continue to deliver the best in silicon, etc. Marketing stuff.
Accelerate the notion of convergenve.
And lunch is now being served.
===
Reflection. We had a 3 GHz machine that couldn't recode a music program
and simultaneously play a DVD movie: the movie was jerky. Even with their
"hyper-threaded code" stuff it didn't play properly. Why can't a
3 GHz system play a DVD? Windows? What? It was a very odd demo and I can't
find anyone to explain it. After all, I play DVD on 1 GHz systems without
problems.
===
Peter Glaskowsky on the future of chips. I stayed an extra day to hear
this, and IT WAS WORTH IT. You'll be seeing this in the column over time.
AMD is competitive in price/performance and
- "AMD has earned a reputation among tech-savvy PC buyers as the
best value among high end systems"
- "This reputation was earned despite some conspicuous weak spots
in the AMD product line."
Question: "Which would you rather have an AMD or an INTEL
system?"
"Intel if cost is not the main factor."
But note that there will be NO INTEL dual processor desk top systems:
Intel ain't making them. This is good news for gamers since AMD will have
duals and at reasonable prices -- I have one after all. A dual Athlon that
screams. So that's an interesting variation.
On the server side, Intel has a bunch of stuff coming, and from
Profusion they bought high end server architecture, 4 processes on each of
two buses and more. If you need to know a lot about this, you need more
than me to tell you.
Damon was an old friend and sometimes opponent, and the only man I know
who could honestly lay a better claim to being a curmudgeon than me. I'll
miss him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/obituaries/17KNIG.html
And that is the end of the day. We are off to do social
things as soon as Alex gets out of the color management seminar. And I
seem to have changed my ticket so that I can get out of here in the
morning. Home tomorrow and I won't be sorry.
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