Intel was pretty pleased with itself today when it was able to confirm that the second million 64-32 Xeon processor had shipped. In a briefing to the press, Intel executive Kirk Skaugen said that Intel's dual core tech was already well fledged across desktops, servers and notebook chips, and that Microsoft would very likely be giving backing to the Itanium, despite earlier indications that Itanium and Microsoft were finished together.
Only a year ago, Intel believed that its 64-32 bit technology wasn't really suitable for the desktop, and might not be supported by new versions of Windows. Because of the endless waiting for Microsoft to ship its XP 64 operating system, plus the falling cost of DRAM, Intel 64-32 bit technology on the desktop was looking unhealthy. Well, now it looks like Intel is now ready to ship 64-32 bit desktop processors, and will be doing so within a matter of days.