Rich -
First, the Prudential folks should stick to the insurance business. Intel closed at $76 3/4 today, so that makes them look about as smart as my dog. I'm glad all those folks could agree on the wrong estimate.
Regarding Intel's "bugs and PR screw ups" - They handled this in a manner that outraged a small group of technical people who expected a different reaction. These people were quite vocal and made a helluva racket.
Intel's estimate of the severity of the problem, however, was quite correct. I'm unaware of anyone other than the Professor (I forget his name - oh, it was Nicely, I believe) who initially discovererd the problem (apparently after Intel haad found it internally but never spoke puiblicly about it.) that actually traced the FDIV problem to a real life computational error UNLESS SOMEONE KNEW WHAT TO LOOK FOR AND THEN WENT LOOKING FOR IT.
At the time, I made the observation that all this press coverage - national news on CBS, CNBC, NBC and ABC would have but one eventual outcome. It would alert nearly everyone in America of Intel and the Pentium. This includes people who couldn't tell a microprocessor from a microwave oven.
In mid- December, 1994 I happened to be in a hockey store, buying some gifts for my son. Some high school kids and their parents were also shopping, and happened to be huddled around a TV that was tuned to the news. And, the latest Pentium flash/bash was broadcast. The kids and parents were all tuned into this media-frenzy/bashing of Intel. Yes, they too were outraged.
So. I asked one of the kids what kind of computer he had at home. His answer was : NONE, he had never used a PC. His parents didn't know much about them, so they never bought him one.
But he sure knew of Intel, and so did his parents.
That is now called BRAND RECOGNITION. Believe it or not, Intel could never, ever have purchased PRIME TIME advertising like this on every news channel, every major newspaper, for three or four weeks, all day long.In the MIDDLE OF THE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING SEASON.
And today, how many people are refusing to buy Pentium machines because they have an Intel chip? It must not be a lot, because 45 million are not refusing - that's about what Intel will ship this year. And CYRIX and AMD sure aren't profiteering from this foobar.
Consumers are people. In general, they are tuned in to the fact that most people and most companies are not perfect. They appreciate good quality products. The important point here is that they can, in general, recognize that a good quality product does not necessarily have to be a PERFECT product. The FDIV problem certainly made the Pentium a little less than perfect. But was it a poor quality product?
No.
Paul |
