Microsoft is to unveil a new version of its Windows operating system next month that is optimised for tablet computing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. It will run on chips based on the AEM design, rather that Intel's conventional x86 chip architecture.
The new chips are designed to help Microsoft better compete in the market for tablet computers, where it has been crushed by Apple's iPad and where a slew of other competitors using Google and Palm operating systems are set to hit the market.
"They're desperate to show they're in the game," one of the people familiar with Microsoft's plans told the newspaper. The conventional Windows operating system running on x86 chips is considered too bloated to effectively run tablet computers and other mobile devices, using too much power to allow effective battery life.
The new designs could mark the biggest change in the tight alliance between Intel and Microsoft that has dominated the PC industry since the 1980s. Microsoft is expected to announce details of the new plan at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January.
Quoting people who had been briefed on the Microsoft project, the report said that the effort is part of a broader push by Microsoft to create a modular Windows operating system that can be chopped and changed to suit different devices.
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