Windows 8 and 9 to feature 128-bit support

The personified body of Windows 7 hasn’t even been born to die and turn cold yet and already people are speculating away on Windows 8 and even 9! Though, the big draw behind this freshly built rumor is rather through provoking. The current trend in the OS market is the *full* move to 64-bit. The pluses over 32-bit are countless with the most often talked about being support for higher RAM capacities and overall faster system performance. But those with an eye to the future and looking farther down the line at Windows 8 and 9 have some leads that 128-bit will usher in a new era in computing.

If you think that Microsoft researchers are just starting Win8/9 development now that 7 is mostly out of the way, you may be surprised to know that they’ve been in the digital pot cooking for some time. Perhaps the most interesting information on this subject was evident on Robert Morgan’s (Senior Research & Development at Microsoft) LinkedIn profile. The profile is your typical LinkedIn profile, though Windows 8 News found some pretty interesting info. Unfortunately Morgan’s profile has since been removed preventing us from having a look but the text that was there is being spread around like fire. It reads:

Working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and longterm projects. Research & Development projects including 128bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan. Forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP, and IBM.

Robert Morgan is working to get IA-128 working backwards with full binary compatibility on the existing IA-64 instructions in the hardware simulation to work for Windows 8 and definitely Windows 9.

Now, the first paragraph was his actual LinkedIn profile with the second being his status. Further backing up rumors based on Morgan’s now deceased profile are numerous job postings highlighted by Ars Technica showing a hotbed of activity going on deep within Microsoft. The news of potential 128-bit Windows 8/9 is a lot to comprehend right now. I mean, think of all the things that have to be changed to support that. Software and hardware across the board will have to be re-written to take advantage of the new found power. Of course, Windows 8 is at least 4 years away with Windows 9 probably a good decade from release. Still, it makes the geek in side of me eager for the future.

Ars Technica > Windows 8 News

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