“Through a strange set of converging circumstances, Linux
could end up as the pre-eminent operating system for Intel’s 64-bit
Itanium chip, due in the second half of this year.
Microsoft is holding to the party line that it will have a
64-bit Windows release ready to ship once Intel officially releases
Itanium. But according to an internal Microsoft memo, dated 1
January 2000, viewed by ZDNet sister publication Sm@rt Reseller,
the software company expects to release Beta 2 of Whistler — its
next version of Windows following Windows 2000 — as its first
Itanium offering. The final shipping version of Whistler isn’t
slated to arrive until March 2001, according to the memo.”
“The memo, along with this week’s spat between Intel and Sun
Microsystems over Solaris for Itanium, leaves Linux looking like it
may become the most viable operating system for Itanium when the
chip ships in the third quarter of this year.”