Intel thread, here is some history from Extremetech concerning the VIA P4X266 issue. It's interesting to get a perspective in exactly what VIA has going for them (or not going for them, however the case may be).
extremetech.com
To understand what's probably shaping VIA's strategy, we have to take a trip down memory lane. Once upon a time, there was a company called Exponential Research. Although the focus was a little different, Exponential was the "Transmeta" of its day. Exponential garnered substantial venture capital and was the darling of the technology press. Instead of low-power CPUs, though, Exponential's initial focus was on building very high clock rate (at the time), Intel-compatible CPUs using bipolar technology. The company burned through a lot of cash before going belly-up. What Exponential had going for it was a stable of patents key to developing high clock rate CPUs.
As the company was being folded, a bidding war took place for Exponential's intellectual property. One of the bidders was Intel. However, Intel lost out to S3, who was still flying high in the graphics business at the time. S3 then turned around and cut a cross-licensing deal with Intel, which would allow it to enter the core logic market. S3 was probably too ambitious for its own good. It merged with Diamond Multimedia, but the combined company eventually left the graphics business, selling the remains off to a joint venture. The joint venture partner was none other than VIA.
So it's no stretch of the imagination to believe that VIA's strategy is to leverage the S3 cross-licensing agreement with Intel. However, given the convoluted nature of the various deals, it's by no means certain that courts will allow VIA to be sheltered under the umbrella of S3's old cross-licensing agreement with Intel. At the very least, the legal teams for both companies may be sparring with each other for years to come.
If VIA really does believe it has some patent shelter due to its relationship with S3, then the P4X266 will likely see the light of day. But VIA also has to consider its customer base of board manufacturers. Intel has shown in the past that it's perfectly willing to sue motherboard companies that use chip technology from third parties that the Santa Clara CPU maker believes infringe its IP. Any motherboard maker would be exposing themselves to the risk of legal action by Intel's large and capable legal team.
wanna_bmw |
