JC, I didn't misread Petz. In fact, I'm sure that in some instances, the XP moniker will lead to some confusion as to the relationship between the Athlon and Windows, which is why it is so funny when AMD claims the name to be a coincidence. (Aside: JC, IIRC, you once had a poll for what to name the new Athlon, and Athlon XP was one of the choices. What led you to include that option? A little premonition, or were you tipped off? You don't have to answer if it is the latter.)
What I am suggesting is that perhaps this "coincidence" will backfire, if the Pentium 4 happens to be marketed with Windows XP (or better yet, has real world noticeable performance improvements due to optimizations), while the Athlon XP does not. Like the fake megahertz confusion, customers will feel cheated, thinking that some kind of false advertising has taken place.
Knowing Intel's relationship with Microsoft, I wouldn't doubt that the two companies have something planned for the Windows XP launch, but it would be very unlucky for AMD if such a marketing relationship ends up causing even more criticism to their naming convention. "Unlucky", of course, is assuming that using XP is a coincidence, which I find hard to believe. But if AMD did choose the name intentionally, then they deserve whatever praise or criticism they get.
wanna_bmw |
