AMD posts Windows 95/K6-2 bug fix for free

Chip vendor acts as Microsoft continues to charge $35 for patch

Microsoft's penny-pinching attempt to force owners of K6-2 based PCs who have experienced a bug in Windows 95 to cough up $35 for the patch has been scotched by the chip manufacturer itself. Faced with the Great Satan of Software's apparent refusal to admit its mistake and eliminate the charge, AMD has made the fix available from its Web site free of charge. As reported here earlier (see AMD users go through roof at $35 fix for K6-2 crash), Microsoft not only charged $35 for the patch but, according to users, didn't exactly go out of its way to point K6-2 owners to the patch's location. Users quickly alleged the company was using the $35 charge to encourage users to migrate to Windows 98 rather than fix a glitch in 95. At the time, a senior source at AMD told The Register: "I can't understand why there's a commercial issue here for Microsoft. We try to give whatever treatment is possible for our end users." The bug prevents the K6-2 from working properly under Windows 95, which was never designed for high-speed CPUs. A senior software engineer recently told The Register he believes the bug can also affect other high speed (350MHz or more) processors, including Pentium IIs and Cyrix chips (see Win95 bug could spread to other CPU platforms than AMD). When news of the $35 charge emerged, we asked Microsoft to comment. It has still to do so. It has also yet to release a fix for versions of Windows 95 before the OEM Serive Release 2 update. ®