ReneeJames
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Brian Krzanich takes the reins at Intel today
Today's the day, trivia fans, when "Paul Otellini" stops being the answer to the question "Who is the CEO of Intel?" A fortnight ago, after a prolonged bout of speculation, current COO Brian Krzanich was anointed as the Silicon Valley giant's sixth leader -- giving him a mere two weeks to order a new desk and buy a fancier sports car. He'll be joined by Renée James, who is assuming the mantle of company president today. The pair is taking control of a company that is top of the PC food chain, but which has yet to mount a credible challenge to ARM's mobile dominance -- but the strategic stuff can wait until tomorrow, once they've settled in. Update: Krzanich spoke with Reuters today and pledged to get Intel more competitive on the mobile front, going so far as to say that Intel "missed it" and that he will "make adjustments in [Intel's] architecture and our product choices."
Microsoft rebuts Intel's claims about Windows 8, calls them 'factually inaccurate'
Bad Intel! Microsoft has issued a strongly worded response to comments this week from Intel SVP Renee James describing the future of Windows 8 on ARM as fragmented and backwards-incompatible. Those statements, says Microsoft, were "factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading," though we're left without clarification as to what specifically was untrue. James claimed that legacy x86 programs won't be running on the ARM architecture, requiring a re-write for developers and probably a re-purchase for users. She also went on to suggest that each of the four hardware suppliers for Windows 8 systems-on-chip will have a different code stack, incompatible with the rest, which sounds like a far worse allegation to us. Now the issue is to try and figure out which of those two big accusations Microsoft has taken offense to. The Redmond team had nothing more to say on the matter, offering only a reminder that Windows 8 is still at the tech demo stage and there's still a long way to go.
Intel VP confirms ARM versions of Windows 8 will offer no compatibility with legacy apps
We already knew that there would be multiple flavors of the next version of Windows. This is, after all, Microsoft, and if it isn't available in dozens of different SKUs, one for each rung on the ladder from student to corporate executive, then it isn't worth stamping to a disc and throwing in a box. However, thanks to Intel Senior Vice President Renee James, we now know for sure that there will be a decisive split between the various ARM and x86 editions. James confirmed yesterday that x86 versions will work just fine on Intel, AMD, and other compatible chips, running all your legacy applications with aplomb. However, the ARM versions of the OS (which may number as many as six) won't include any sort of instruction emulation, James saying "Our competitors will not be running legacy applications. Not now. Not ever." That's something that Intel CEO Paul Otellini hinted at back at CES, which means Office running on ARM must have been a re-write -- or at least a re-compile. That's bad news for anyone hoping they'd be able to install Command & Conquer Collector's Edition on the Tegra-powered Windows 8 tablet of their dreams. James additionally indicated there will be four separate Windows 8 ARM SoCs, meaning someone has joined NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and TI since the CES unveil. Intrigue!
Developers to get native x86 version of Android 2.2 this summer?
We knew that Intel had designs on Android for its Moorestown CPU, and as you might have guessed, the company's plans don't stop there. Renee James, a Senior VP at Intel, recently said as much in a conversation with APC. Apparently, devs can look forward to seeing a fully native x86 version of Froyo at some point this summer. James goes on to say that "all of the code will be fed back into the open branch that will be created for x86." Awesome! Perhaps 2011 will see a yet another flood of generic, Atom-powered Android tablets. Because we don't see enough generic Android tablets as it is.
