John said,
> Paul, what do you think of DEC's claims against INTC? In terms
> of SGI this is a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" sidebar.
I think it's better than that. P II competes with SGI on the low
end, Alpha on the midrange and up. If one of the two contenders
gets severely hurt, it's good news for SGI, I think. Even if they
settle amicably, most probably intc will have to go back to the
drawing board with Merced, possibly delaying it even more. This
is also good news.
It's likely that the entire lawsuit thing was designed
to delay Merced. (Though I think the infringement is probably real,
DEC probably is counting more upon killing Merced than upon getting
back-royalties for the patents).
On the other hand, there is a substantial chance that the victor
may emerge stronger, which would be very bad news. What would happen
if INTC were to acquire all alpha technology? (They have the
resources to buy DEC altogether, though DEC has a poison pill).
Just imagine INTC piping out alphas... brrrr...
Then again, the timescale for anything to happen is probably a
couple of years, so this might dissolve into a nonissue anyway.
Too many likely alternatives right now. We gotta wait it out.
Best, |
