Intel CEO mum on Vista's impact

LAS VEGAS--After giving what we would describe as a visionary and even entertaining keynote address at CES on Monday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini carved out some time to answer questions from a small group of reporters. When it comes to tech CEOs, Otellini has been somewhere between Steve Ballmer and Michael Dell on the openness scale, though definitely much closer to Ballmer. So it was a little surprising that when we asked a simple question about Vista, Otellini pleaded the Fifth.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini makes a point with reporters at CES in Las Vegas.

(Credit: Corrine Schulze/CNET News.com)

Noting that Bill Gates had said during his Monday keynote speech that there are now 100 million people using Vista, we wanted to know whether Intel considers Vista a success in driving PC upgrades--or was 100 million installs simply a reflection of the market's growth rate? In other words, after five years in development, was Vista having any impact on moving hardware, and by extension Intel processors?

Before the question could even be finished, Otellini shook his head and said, "no," he was not getting into any discussion about Vista.

We considered that not just odd, given Otellini's history of taking on all questions, but a sign that Intel is seriously displeased with Vista. If that weren't true, why couldn't the CEO muster even a lukewarm response like, "We certainly think Vista a superior OS, but after five years in development we would have hoped it had more of an impact on creating a demand for PC upgrades."

We followed up by asking if he preferred Apple's approach to OS development--rolling out an upgrade every 18 months or so--versus Microsoft's multiyear process. Otellini responded that he had heard that Gates said a day earlier that there could be one more monolithic Windows upgrade. "If that's true," Otellini paused before continuing, "I would rather have them move a lot faster and keep up with silicon technology."

On other topics:

Apple: Asked straight up which chip would be in the lightweight laptop Apple is rumored to unveiling next week at Macworld, Otellini said, "I've learned that you don't talk about Apple." Or Vista? we kidded. "Or Vista."

The UMPC: Otellini defended the ultramobile PC, a small form factor PC that has sold in modest amounts. He described the UMPC as "still evolving" and said it's too early to call it a flop. Noting the early days of the cell phone--bulky and expensive devices with limited functionality that are now small, ubiquitous, and powerful--he said, "You would not declare the cell phone a failure in year two."

The medical market: The medical industry "is the least penetrated by IT in the world," which is "why it's so inefficient." He added that that will change when costs reach a "crisis" point.

On Gates stepping aside at Microsoft: "I envy the fact that he doesn't have to do another keynote." He added that Gates "set the standard" for the industry. "Do I miss Bill from a business relationship? Yeah, I've known Bill for years."

[MyRightEye]

You can't remember Gates talking about...

One more monolithic release of Windows.<br /><br />Maybe I should become a reporter...

[moofer]

Otellini and his wife both use Macs

You probably won't hear too much pro-windows campaigning <br />anymore. I'm sure he's less than thrilled with the progress of the <br />Windows platform - so much so that he and his wife use Macs at <br />home:<br /><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2007/10/24/intels-paul-" target="_newWindow">http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2007/10/24/intels-paul-</a><br />otellini-loves-his-mac/

[frankwick]

also

I'm sure he also uses Vista. and I'm sure he also uses some linux distro. He's probably running Windows 7 with 48 cores.

[GGGlen]

No surprise there

If I were the CEO of Intel, I sure wouldn't have anything nice to say <br />about an OS that made my products look like crap.<br />And momma always said "If you don't have anything nice to say..."

[maverick_nick]

How!?

How did Vista make Intel's products look "crap"?

[ewelch]

Superior?

You expect him to call Vista a superior OS? TO what? DOS? NT? <br />Window ME? Well yeah. I'm not even sure if it's better than OS/2!

[maverick_nick]

What!?

Have you even used Vista?

[therealbean]

Vista five years in deployment?

"...In other words, after five years in development, was Vista having any impact on moving hardware?"<br /><br />Vista was completed in late 2006 and shipped in early 2007.

[Tghu Verd]

RE: Vista five years in deployment?

therealbean writes:<br />&gt; Vista was completed in late 2006<br />&gt; and shipped in early 2007.<br /><br />Agreed, but Microsoft had been hyping Vista - or Longhorn as it was then - for years before the release and such market building activity has worked in the past to lauch a buying frenzy of new hardware.<br /><br />A decade ago we queued up to buy Windows 95 and Intel was happy. Today we're foisted with Woindows Vista as an OEM install and Intel is obviously less happy!

[retrosteve]

Five years is right, and doesn't look good compared to, say, Apple.

Yes, both the dates you give are true. 2006 completion, 2007 release.<br /><br />Vista was also announced in July 2005, after having been mentioned in the press since 2001 as the upcoming "Longhorn", to have a new RDBMS-based file system called WinFS.<br /><br />Vista follows its predecessor, Windows XP, released in October 2001, five years and three months previously.<br /><br />For comparison, in October 2001, Apple had just released OSX 10.1 (Puma), and in July 2005, Apple had released OSX 10.3 (Panther). <br /><br />Between Vista's announcement in 2005 and its full release in January 2007, Apple had end-of-lifed OSX 10.3 and released OSX 10.4.<br /><br />And at current time, Apple has released OSX 10.5 (Leopard), including file system innovations like "Time Machine" for recalling the disk's previous state at any time.<br /><br />Longhorn's WinFS is still "in development".

[drewbyh]

I think you misread...

The quote is, "after five years in development" not deployment as you stated.

[Arbalest05]

Isn't Vista just an XP service pack gone horribly wrong?

To me, Vista seems like XP, just slower (for unknown reasons) and filled up with DRM. Are there features that I have overlooked that make Vista more useful to the typical user than XP? Vista should probably just have been a SP to XP, but Microsoft needed cash so it became a "new" Windows release.

[joshsc]

Technically 2 years

Actually the vista we know today was only in the works for 2 or 3 years. I think it's 2 years. Before that, MS had a different OS planned and found too many problems that they couldn't figure out how to fix...so they scrapped it and began on what is now Vista.<br /><br />So although they worked on the new os for 5 years, Vista was only about 2 years in the making.

[tgrenier]

competing customers

Well now that Apple is a customer he can't really take side publicly. Good Year deosn not claim any particluar car maker is superior. I wonder where Intel would be without Microsoft.

[mpitogo]

This story is misleading and the Vista facts are wrong

The author stated<br /><br />"Noting that Bill Gates had said during his Monday keynote <br />speech that there are now 100 million people using Vista"<br /><br />This is in fact not true. What Gates said during his keynote <br />speech was that Microsoft has sold 100M licenses of Microsoft <br />Vista. Does this mean there are 100M users of vista? Absolutely <br />not! For one the Vista license number includes OEM agreements <br />with all the PC manufacturers in addition to retail copies. Many <br />consumers have Vista licenses but have reverted back to XP. <br />Second when Microsoft says sold, they also include licenses that <br />were purchased by a distributer or manufacturer and not yet <br />sold to the consumer. Third Microsoft Software Assurance <br />customers who have kept their contract up to date but have not <br />rolled out Vista.<br /><br />Vista is certainly out there but in at 100M users as suggested by <br />this author.

[luisosio]

AMD better with VISTA

AMD has always advertised VISTA runs much better on its chips than on Intel's. Your note seems to confirm this.

[Dragon Forge]

Get a clue

The pro and con elements of this discussion boolster the contention that Intel is right in hedging its words. A solid ms o/s release could have sent sales thru then roof and of course intel appreciates the market and has itself developed for that tech market via o/s - so they support each other. Intel statements support the market in that they did not throw any sunshine and flowers in some bs response alienating the market, (reconfirming what we all know), and yet still in line hoping ms can get its head out of its parts unknown.<br /><br />I need an o/s light on the business malarky and heavy on entertainment - they shud have made 2 distinct products years ago. Also recognizing the need for stable business platforms and the host of marklets that rely on this, this feeble offering is a slap in the face to everyone.<br /><br />Do a google on sharepoint server and you can see many individuals hard at work repositioning the hits continuously for another muddled and halfbaked product - a supposed business aggragation lmfao.<br /><br />While I may be missing out on the top end video aspects of some new games I am in no need of chasing this lzr o/s.<br /><br />It is time we sent them a message and the industry also - to apply additional pressure - we dont need this piece of crap and definitely dont need to buy any new software or hardware for these bug riddled products and marginal benefits.<br /><br />You're absolutely not missing a thing by sticking with your old system for another year or 2.