On Tue, Sep 21, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Raper, Jonathan - Eagle <[email protected]> wrote: > This is akin (as I believe someone else mentioned previously) to the phone > system world.
It's worth mentioning a bit of history. In the world of phones, it used to be you had to buy more hardware (line cards, DSP cards, whatever) just to add a few ports. As hardware became more powerful, it eventually reached a point where even a single cheap device could provide all the resources most small orgs ever need. But the mfgs didn't want to deprive themselves of the revenue. So they artificially limited the hardware and required fees to remove the limits. The mfgs made the argument that this let people who previously couldn't afford a sophisticated phone system buy one. High design and mfg plant costs meant even the cheapest possible system was expensive. Thus, the big customers who needed more resources and could afford to pay were now subsidizing the small customers who couldn't afford to cover that NRE. (Hmm. Isn't that similar to the argument communists use?) That "worked" for quite some time. Phone equipment was expensive to design and build, so the big players didn't fear competition. Then IP telephony hit the scene, and lowered the barrier of entry. In the space of a few years, the entire industry melted down. I suspect Intel's situation parallels this. More and more people don't really need a CPU upgrade. Even the cheapest CPU Intel can possibly make is more than enough. So... artificially limit the hardware, and require fees to remove the limits. Intel (and AMD) don't have much to fear right now, since getting into the chip fab business is hideously expensive. The situation could persist for quite some time. But if a "game changing" technology hits the scene quickly, expect a massive shakeout. -- Ben ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
