Microsoft Products Speed Along With New Intel Pentium III Processor

Vast Array of Microsoft Products Optimized for Intel's Forthcoming Processor

REDMOND, Wash. - Feb. 17, 1999 - Microsoft Corp. today announced that a broad range of Microsoft^® products are enhanced by the performance abilities of the Intel^® Pentium^® III processor. The Pentium III processor platform provides for the best Microsoft Windows^® operating system performance and offers enhanced multimedia realism, and Microsoft is committed to developing many products and services to optimize its benefits. These include software such as Windows 2000, Windows technologies such as Microsoft Internet Explorer browser software and the DirectX^® set of APIs, and games such as "Flight Simulator" and "Full Auto."

"We are excited because the Pentium III processor will bring in a new-generation platform for faster computing with Windows," said Brad Chase, vice president, Windows marketing and developer relations, Microsoft. "The Windows family of operating systems, in particular, runs substantially faster on the Pentium III processor. Customers will be able enjoy both the performance gains and the new capabilities in a richer Windows environment."

"The combination of Intel's Pentium III processor with Microsoft's multimedia system services will enable a whole new class of high-performance multimedia-centric applications," said Mike Aymar, vice president and director, platform launch operation, Intel Corp. "By taking advantage of these new technologies, business and home computer users will experience the benefits of enhanced capabilities and performance."

The Windows Family of Operating Systems

The Windows family of operating systems will deliver superior performance via the Pentium III processor. Not only will Windows 98, Windows 2000 Professional and all the Windows 2000 Server products natively support this new architecture, but even the Windows NT^® Workstation operating system 4.0 with Service Pack 4, along with a driver explicitly written by Intel and approved by Microsoft for Windows NT Workstation, will support these new extensions, providing a blazing-fast user experience.

Direct X

The DirectAnimation™ API will extend the multimedia run time to include DX transform plug-in architecture, HTML+ time, 3-D geometry and hardware acceleration, HTML as textures and improved anti-aliasing. DirectAnimation benefits from Intel's Streaming SIMD Extensions by using the Pentium III optimizations in the Direct3D^® API. Direct3D, a 3-D geometry engine for DirectX, is tuned for the Pentium III processor, accelerating 3-D rendering tasks such as scaling, rotation, lighting and other effects. By using the DirectAnimation or Direct3D APIs, application developers can deliver exciting new levels of visual quality and realism on a Pentium III processor platform.

Windows Media Technologies

Customers encoding streaming video will benefit greatly from Pentium III processor optimizations in the next version of the Microsoft MPEG-4 video codec, due in the first half of 1999. Dramatic improvements to on-demand encoding speed and real-time encoding data rate, frame rate and resolution will result in significant cost savings for content providers.

Office 2000

Office 2000 will help make it easier for users to create and share information on the Web. Although Office 2000 is designed to run on existing hardware platforms, the Intel Pentium III processor will provide users with increased performance and richer support for high-quality graphics and interactive multimedia. Microsoft plans to enable the next version of PhotoDraw™ 2000, the business graphics software included in Office 2000 Premium, with additional 2-D Pentium III processor enhancements coded directly into the application.

• "Flight Simulator." The next version of "Flight Simulator" is being optimized for the Intel Pentium III processor so users will be able to see greater scenery density. In addition, as a result of faster processor speed, "Flight Simulator" will run smoother than ever.
• "Full Auto." "Full Auto" is an intense vehicular action-shooter game. Through optimization for the Pentium III, light and shadow processing as well as the frame rate were significantly improved.
• "Midtown Madness™." In the "Midtown Madness" game, users enjoy unrestricted auto racing through the streets of Chicago. The Pentium III processor helps solve the numerous complex calculations involved with populating a city full of cars and hundreds of objects that can collide. With the Pentium III processor, Microsoft is able to create a more immersive gaming experience with lifelike and complex visual effects.
• "Baseball 2000." When running on the Pentium III processor, "Baseball 2000" offers a software render mode that will dramatically improve the frame rate and graphical performance of the game without 3-D acceleration.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, Windows, DirectX, Windows NT, DirectAnimation, Direct3D, PhotoDraw and Midtown Madness are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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