Ed, >>INTC is in REAL trouble in the desktop market.
I think you're wrong. Now, if the current x86 products were to have several more years of life, you could have been right. More about that later. For now, I think that Intel's earnings for this year (as predicted by the Merrill Lynches and Prudentials of the world) are, if not in the bag, close to that. These other vendors' chips will take time to ramp up for evaluation of compatibility, yield, customer acceptance and other reasons. Next year could be a little dicey for Intel, but, with Merced just around the corner at that time, everyone will be coming back to Intel, if that many left to begin with. Merced is 64 bit, both UNIX and legacy Microsoft compatible and will blow the doors off any other chip at that time, IMO. (I have seen performance numbers predicted by HP for machines to start ship in 1998, based on Merced. They are completely awesome). Merced's a joint development with HP, maybe also Compaq, Microsoft has started the legacy compatible software. Who the he** is going to keep up with this engine developed by the finest of the finest companies in the computer industry? If I were Sun, I know I'd be sweating major bullets, not to mention AMD, DEC or anyone else.
Tony
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