Windows 7 is going to have more support for Parallel Processing, and thus better use multi-core OSes that are becoming more and more widespread.

There were a few sessions at PDC2008 that hinted at Microsoft working on this area. The only article that has any sort of substantial news about windows 7 and parallel processing is Mary Jo Foley’s post (at her blog on ZDNet). And here’s another post from her that’s somewhat related – Intel’s parallel processing related moves.

The lack of hard facts and actual news means I’m going to talk about what what parallel processing is, what multi-core processors enable, and what all this might mean for Windows 7 -

1. Multi-core processors are processors that have more than one Central Processing Unit. For example, an Intel Core 2 Duo has two processors. Fundamentally, this means that you have two CPUs to do computing tasks instead of one.  
2. The real power of having multiple cores/CPUs becomes apparent when you can do computing tasks in parallel. Parallel Processing means either breaking up a computing task into parts that are done in parallel, or doing two separate computing tasks at the same time (each on a unique processor).  
3. Let’s say you’re running multiple processes on your PC i.e. your browser, music, a firewall, an anti-virus. Each process runs in its own thread, and each thread is assigned some slice of CPU time. Theoretically, with multi-core systems, you would have separate threads running on separate cores/CPUs. So instead of having to share the same CPU, these processes could each get their own CPU (provided there are enough cores/CPUs). 
4. Parallel processing and multi-core systems enable something else – you can break up a computing task into pieces and potentially run them at the same time. There is of course some overhead, and a lot of tasks can’t really be broken down. However, when it works, parallel processing really helps speed things up.
5. Having parallel processing in Windows 7 would be great – because it would mean that multiple tasks can be done at the same time. One processor could run your Anti-Virus scanner, and another could do the work for the game you are running. This is all speculation though - in reality, the amount of support for parallel processing in Windows 7 might be rather rudimentary. Or it might be even better and might allow for even more amazing things.

What we do know for sure about Windows 7 and Parallel Processing -

1. It’s going to have much better support for parallel processing and multi-core OSes than Vista.  
2. Microsoft is moving towards multi-core support in the next generation of Windows - whether that ‘next generation windows’ means Windows 7 too is unknown.
3. There’s a quote which I can’t find at the moment where someone from Microsoft was talking about multi-core support aimed at not just 2 or 4 processors.

I’ll update this post when I find something substantial. Here’s to hoping there’s some great multi-core support in Windows 7.

Technorati Tags: windows 7, windows 7 multi-core

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