Intel on track to build two chips with ARM inside

　　Intel may be developing a split personality.
　　The high-tech giant is slated to build chips for two customers that have ARM processors inside -- even as the x86 side of the company competes fiercely with the U.K.-based chip designer ARM and its partners.
　　The most striking silicon that Intel will build is an Altera system-on-a-chip (SoC) that integrates a quad-core 64-bit ARM processor.
　　The Altera system will use the ARM component as a control processor that helps to manage the data packets on Altera's field-programmable gate array (FPGA), into which the ARM chip is integrated.
　　"When this chip comes out it will be among the largest chips ever produced on this planet in terms the number of transistors. It should pass 4 billion transistors," said Chris Balough, senior director of SoC product marketing at Altera, in an interview with CNET.
　　By comparison, Intel's latest Haswell chip has roughly 1.5 billion transistors.
　　The Altera chip is expected to be available in late 2014 and to go into production in 2015.
　　And Altera wasn't even the first. Well before Altera's 64-bit quad-core ARM revelation this week, Netronome announced in April that Intel would make its flow processor, which incorporates an ARM processor.
　　Netronome and Altera went to Intel because it is making steady progress in building up its contract manufacturing operations, aka "foundry" business. Currently, it has five publicly announced customers.
　　And Intel expects more ARM customers in the future. "Will other people come ask us? Probably. Will we talk about it beforehand? No," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy.
　　If Altera's praise is any indication, more prospects will indeed be knocking on Intel's door.
　　"In testament to how advanced their technology is, [Intel is] going into production status of 14-nanometer in Q1 of next year," said Altera's Balough, referring to the fact Intel is the first chipmaker in the world to achieve production on the minuscule 14-nanometer scale, the most advanced process to date.

Every enterprise is special and has diverse demands

　　The percentage of Computer customers operating Windows 8.1 doubled in a month’s time, as outlined by the newest October information compiled by metrics firm Net Applications.
　　Certainly, that’s nonetheless just a tiny fraction in the general Computer marketplace: 1.72 percent, as measured by the firm. But combined with the quantity of users running Windows eight, the combined marketplace share from the Windows eight.x OS topped 9.25 %. At its current pace, that share ought to major ten % by the finish of the year. (In September, Windows eight commanded eight.02 percent, and Windows 8.1 0.87 %, to get a combined share of eight.89 percent.)
　　And sorry, Linux: Windows eight.1 now tops you, as well. Linux commanded 1.61 % of all PCs measured by Net Applications for the month of October. Mac OS X ten.eight was used by three.31 % of customers, Net Applications located.
　　Naturally, the negative news for Microsoft is that its two older operating systems continue to dominate the Pc landscape. In accordance with Net Applications’s figures, greater than 46 % of users run Windows 7, and 31.24 percent of users continue to run Windows XP. Each numbers dropped less than a percent from a month ago.
　　XP’s marketshare is undoubtedly probably the most troubling, given that Microsoft will discontinue support for Windows XP by next April, leaving the 13-year-old operating technique without any way of getting patched. The “XPocalypse” will leave PCs in a “zero day forever” mode, exposing them to any and all future vulnerabilities. Firms starting to cheap windows 7 professional retail pack panic have chosen Windows 7 as a stopgap, on the other hand.
　　“Since Windows eight launched, our guidance to small business buyers has been to continue Windows 7 migrations that happen to be already in approach,” a Microsoft representative told PCWorld inside a statement final month. “We propose our prospects continue these deployments and contemplate Windows 8 in targeted scenarios where it tends to make one of the most sense, which include extremely mobile workers. As Windows 8 launched much less than a year ago, we're nevertheless seeing plenty of enterprises completing these planned Windows 7 migrations now.
　　“Every enterprise is special and has diverse demands,” the Microsoft representative added. “The most important issue is that companies move off XP just before April 8, 2014, and onto a modern day operating technique, and moving to Windows 7 will not only make sure that shoppers stay on a supported version of Windows, but they will be on a path to Windows eight and can reap the benefits of innovations within the Windows 7 platform, such as enhanced safety and control, enhanced user productivity, and streamlined Pc management.”
　　However, there’s about five months ahead of the XPocalypse draws nigh. While Microsoft stands to advantage in the shift-31 percent in the Computer user base stands to upgrade to some thing, whether it be Windows eight or Windows 7-there’s a genuine threat to users who stay on the older OS. It is worth remembering-again-that if you’re among those impacted, take into account creating an upgrade to a newer OS a priority.