Advanced Micro Devices Inc is now offering the Microsoft Corp patch for Windows 95 free of charge, in order to resolve incompatibilities between the operating system and its K6-2 chip (CI No 3,543). Microsoft had been offering the patch for from its own web site, but insisted on charging users a $35 fee. The incompatibilities resulted in failures during the boot sequence. There appears to have been some disagreement over where the fault lay, with AMD insisting that it was caused by a software timing loop sensitive to processor frequency, and was not a processor error. AMD says it has been working closely with Microsoft since September, when the problem was first noted. The patch – which doesn’t resolve issues associated with the retail versions of Windows 95 – can be downloaded from http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/k623d/win95_update_k6.html AMD saw its shares rise $3.50 to $29.13 just before Thanksgiving, as Merrill Lynch analyst Tom Kurlack raised his rating on the company from nuetral to accumulate. Kurlak says that, due to the booming sub $1,000 PC market, AMD could be on target to ship 12m K6 chips this year, and could grow sales to 40m units by 2001.
