From Windows on-line Magazine
May 01, 1999, Issue: 1005
Section: Analysis
Valuable Predictions
Hot or Hype" (Cover Story, March) was a very useful article for planning my
next set of upgrades. I appreciated the clear and concise explanations about
where technology is headed. I've wasted time and money on useless gadgets
in the past, so I found this information extremely valuable.
John Mielke
When you placed voice recognition in the "hype" category, you made it harder
for VR consultants like myself, who have to spend more time re-educating our
clients that the benefits far outweigh the cost and a bit of behavior
modification. In my experience, enunciation and training are not as important
as having the right hardware and software to optimize performance, coupled
with a user-specific dictionary. If your sole complaint is that only the serious
need bother, then so be it.
Russ Walton
I would like to correct several misconceptions about EDRAM and ESDRAM
products as stated in your "Hot or Hype" article. You say that it's not
socket-compatible with existing SDRAM. Our ESDRAM products were
approved in 1998 as an SDRAM Superset standard, meaning they have a
superset of features that increase performance, while being exactly
SDRAM-compatible.
As for it being expensive, we are currently in licensing discussions with
numerous DRAM companies to find a way to offer a low-cost product.
Finally, although Intel says Rambus is the answer, manufacturers such as
Micron, Samsung, IBM and Mitsubishi have recently announced PC-133
SDRAM for their next-generation chipset offerings. And we are currently
involved in design-in activity with almost all non-Intel chipsets. I think
1999-2000 will be the right time for EDRAM.
David Bondurant
Vice president of marketing, Enhanced Memory Systems
Editor's reply: You're right about ESDRAM-it does indeed fit into SDRAM
sockets. Concerning motherboards and chipsets, Intel currently manufactures
more motherboards, and far more chipsets, than any other company. We'll
want to take a close look at products using these other components before we
give them a heads-up.
Copyright ® 1999 CMP Media Inc.
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