A New Era for the PC Gets a Little Bit Closer

Time sure does fly, doesnt it? Seems like just yesterday I was blogging about the important milestone reached with the availability of the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC). Now I already find myself blogging about Microsofts latest step forward to help improve the consumer experience on the PC with the Windows 7 Release to Manufacturing (RTM). Even though I work for a technology company, I really do think of myself as a consumer. And in that sense, Im just as interested in the user experience as anyone else contemplating a PC purchase. I dont buy a PC for the different individual technology pieces; I purchase based on what all the features allow me to do when they fit together. Ultimately, our products dont mean anything if they arent empowering the end user. And yes, that involves a lot of pieces, including the operating system. Thats why Im excited about this milestone. Its the kind of feeling you get when you know something really big is coming. And Im pleased to report that were making major strides already. AMD just announced the WHQL-certified ATI Catalyst (TM) 9.7 Unified Driver (you can download the ATI Catalyst driver here). This is a crucial piece of the puzzle designed to help you get the most out of your ATI Radeon (TM) graphics technology when running Windows 7. This, combined with the upcoming DirectX 11- (DX11) enabled ATI Radeon graphics cards, will help deliver something we like to call The Ultimate Visual Experience (TM). One feature of AMDs DX11-enabled graphics cards that is designed to enhance Windows 7 in all new ways is the compute shader, which allows our ATI Stream technology to help enable what I was getting at before that seamless user experience. This technology enables a wide number of Windows 7 applications to be sped up in a way thats completely transparent to users. For example, it can accelerate the conversion of video for playback on portable media players through a simple drag-and-drop interface. Something that consumers everywhere are used to taking an hour can now happen in just a few minutes. This leads me back to the importance of a complete PC experience: consumers dont want confusing downloads or complex requirements they want everything to happen seamlessly. AMD has been working with Microsoft over the past six years to help make this happen. I have to say, its all coming together with Windows 7. With rich multimedia functionality, and the performance of multi-core and 64-bit microprocessor technology, combined with AMD superior graphics technology, we think the consumer is now empowered to do what they want with ease. Whether thats watching movies gaming, or social networking it all just works. And, if youre interested in looking at the virtualization features included in Windows 7, you should read A New Window on Client Virtualization by Matt Kimball. Nigel Dessau Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at AMD His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMDs positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.