Microsoft Corp. is developing software for high-performance computers often used in engineering and science research, in a move that puts the company in another head-to-head battle with open-source developers.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates plans to announce the release of another test version of the company’s software at a supercomputing industry conference Tuesday in Seattle.

Craig Mundie, one of Microsoft’s chief technical officers, said the company is entering the market as high-powered computers are becoming more affordable, allowing the market to expand to a point where it makes sense for Microsoft to get into it. Such computers are used for computing, storing and sharing data for a wide variety of uses, ranging from creating better medications to engineering automobiles.

While such computers used to easily cost as much as $1 million, Mundie said some are now available for as little as $4,000 or $5,000.

The Microsoft product, called Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition, is due out in the first few months of 2006. The company has not yet set pricing.

Source: AP