Intel Corp is firmly refuting suggestions that the forthcoming P6 and P7 microprocessors will not be backwards-compatible with the iAPX-86 line. Enterprise Programs manager John McNulty says that Intel has taken a blood oath to ensure that such a thing won’t happen. Programs will have to be recompiled to get the best out of the chips in their native modes, however. He is sure that RISC salesmen are trying to smear Intel with slanders about compatibility. But there is word from sources close to Intel that it has been having a hard time meeting its P6 performance goals, enough to come close to killing the project several times. P7 is a more aggressive RISC design still and they say that to insure iAPX-86 compatibility, Intel, borrowing an idea from IBM Corp, is buckling a transistor-based code converter on the thing. Meanwhile, Intel’s senior vice-president, Paul Otellini, is saying that the P6 is due in 1995. He also said the firm will begin a large advertising campaign for Pentium in the March-April timeframe just about when the OverDrive Pentium upgrade part is due.
