Intel Says USB 3.0 Likely to Reach Mainstream Status in Windows 8

Amidst speculation of features of Windows 7 SP1, Intel has confirmed that it is working with Microsoft on USB 3.0 integration. That's the good news, the bad news is that they are working on getting into Windows 8. Windows 8 is expected to ship in 2012. That's a little long for our taste. Steve Peterson of Intel thinks that SuperSpeed USB devices will only show up on high end PC's, and will take another a year or two to reach mainstream. Despite obvious signs that USB 3.0 is on the rise, the titans of the industry apparently haven't put USB 3.0 as their first priority. Instead, NEC is taking the opportunity to rake in large sums from money with their world's first and only xHCI USB 3.0 host controller ICs.

We're still hoping that the rumors of Windows 7 SP1 having native support melded into the forthcoming patch are true. There's more than a few things we hope get fixed with SP1, not the least of which is the handling of USB autoruns, or lack thereof. At least this means that Intel is working on USB 3.0, we'll take what we can get. Even though the lack of dedicated, native drivers from Intel and Microsoft won't keep USB 3.0 devices from being rolled out, upgrade card and driver disc will only add to cost and slow user acceptance. Compared to Linux, which has had USB 3.0 support for some time now, Microsoft is lagging way behind. Yes, we do hope that kind of mud-slinging is all that it takes to get Redmond off it's duff and on the SuperSpeed bus. We are willing to add some snide comments about Bill's mother if that will help.