Thread, did I read this like others...Is this a new attack from FTC on Intels endorsement of RDRAM? From EETimes...
For Intel's foes, however, a broader investigation of the chip maker's design and licensing practices is overdue.
"I think this is a good start," said Steve Tobak, vice president of corporate marketing at National Semiconductor Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.), which now owns CPU vendor Cyrix.
Tobak said that in years past, standards were effectively open for key components such as memory bus, graphics pipeline, chip-set properties and so on.
"Now, Intel is being selective about whom they license to. That effectively allows them to pick winners and losers," Tobak said. "If the FTC assumes they're a monopoly, then selectively licensing standards becomes an issue."
Pointing to the bus schemes, Tobak noted that anyone could make processors or chip sets using the Pentium bus. By contrast, the "P6 bus is closely held, and Intel will only license it as it sees fit. That standard can enable certain processor and chip-set companies to compete or not."
At the memory-interface level, "the Rambus interface is anointed by Intel. So every memory company has to license Rambus," Tobak pointed out. "Again, defining winners and losers."
Also, with regard to the Toshiba announcement, this sounds like further refined RDRAM technology!? Or is it competing? TIA
And Gary, not to worry, I definetly feel like the dunderhead here! <g>
MileHigh
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