May 15, 2007 11:40 AM PDT
Mundie: Future software to exist in the clouds and on your PC
Mundie talked on Tuesday morning about the evolution of multicore processor architecture on desktops and laptops. He said that the 3GHz dual-core processor on today's PCs will soon give way to 3GHz quad-core and then 3GHz eight-cores down the road. The new processors will require new software languages. The new programming languages will run programs in parallel and on multiple platforms--PC, mobile, and the Internet.
Mundie says current software poorly utilizes the full CPU potential of any PC; most of the time our screensaver kicks in and performs no background operations. Mundie predicts new software on the PC will utilize the full potential, being capable of anticipating tasks performed frequently (such as downloading Web mail) and perhaps executing these before we sit down to the computer in the morning. Given the PC will soon become a "supercomputer on a die," capable of fast, parallel computations, he says there's room for both Internet-based services and a robust new environment for PC software development.
Originally posted at News Blog
