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PDC Preview

Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference started today, and lots of goodies are to be unveiled. Topping the list is pre-release Windows 7 code given to all attendees. Microsoft is calling this code "pre-beta" (isn't that what the word "alpha" refers to?).

Microsoft promises improvements to the Windows kernel, but I'm still waiting to find out if there is, in fact, a new kernel altogether. I'll report back on what I learn.

At the show, developers can bring their own code and see if it'll work with Windows 7. I hope all the hardware guys bring plenty of drivers to try!

Microsoft will also promote multi-core (dual to eight cores) and many-core (lots and lots of cores) programming. This way, apps can fully exploit the amazing gains made by processors. The trick is that it takes a new approach to programming and an awful lot of effort. Basically, you have to rewrite your apps from scratch to use all of these cores. Here's what I learned about multi-core after a month of two of research.

Posted by Doug Barney on October 27, 2008


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