Microsoft Looks Within to Design and Test Chips - New York Times

The spirit of Xerox PARC lives on -- within Microsoft.  Read Dealers of Lightning for a classic overview of related industry history.

For more than two decades, Microsoft’s software and Intel’s processors were so wedded that the pairing came to be known as Wintel. But as that computing era wanes, Microsoft is turning to a new source of chip design: its own labs.

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One reason for the effort is that Microsoft needs to begin thinking about the next-generation design of its Xbox game console, said Charles P. Thacker, a veteran engineer and Microsoft engineer who will head the Silicon Valley group.

Source: Microsoft Looks Within to Design and Test Chips - New York Times