Pentium, however, is a word that can be trademarked (not patented -- there is a huge difference)

Right, sorry, my mistake, trademarked was what I meant.

I mean, heck, you can buy a new PC for only a couple hundred bucks now that's perfectly adequate for anything short of playing high-end games.

Perhaps it's my starving student status, but to me a couple hundred bucks is a far way from free. I see what you're saying, but there is a big difference between "free" and "almost free" (which I think is what Bill had in mind.

PZ
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Reading: Douglas Adams' "Life, The Universe, and Everything"
Listening To: Red Hot Chilli Peppers Mixed CD

Specs are easy to compare with competitors specs, whereas model names are difficult to compare with competitors' model names.

No, the reason Intel is having to drop the pure-GHz rating of their chips is because the Pentium M breaks it. It's a low-clock, high-efficiency architecture (akin to Athlon). All of their future lines will now be built more like the Pentium M and less like the Pentium Pro architecture. It's not one iota different from AMD's rebranding of their CPUs to get away from MHz/GHz -- because, as we've known for decades, clock speed isn't everything.

This is the same reason we had the Pentium, instead of the 586. 586 referred to the 5th generation of the x86 architecture (a technical spec), whereas Pentium is a name brand which can be patented.

The move from 80x86 naming to word-based naming was purely one of trademark issues. A number cannot be trademarked, and so Intel could not prevent its competition from using "486" in their monikers or advertising copy. Pentium, however, is a word that can be trademarked (not patented -- there is a huge difference) and Intel could then ensure that there would never be a "AMD Pentium 150" or the like.

But with the Pentium, if the same Joe Blow walked into a store and said "I want a Pentium", the salesperson could only give him an Intel product

There's no legal requirement to do so. It would only be illegal if the salesperson sold you a non-Pentium system while at the same time telling you that it was actually a Pentium. They could easily sell you a "Pentium class" system unless you asked some pointed questions.

I truly believe that's why AMD started their naming scheme -- to differentiate themselves from Intel.

No, it was all about the MHz myth. See above.

As for the Gates story, anybody else consider that maybe the richest man in America's idea of "free" is a whole lot different than yours or mine?

No, he has a point. I think he's loony on this one, but not as much as some may. Hardware costs have been dropping consistantly for the past two decades. I mean, heck, you can buy a new PC for only a couple hundred bucks now that's perfectly adequate for anything short of playing high-end games.

He's obviously trying to protect his turf though... and I suspect he just pissed off a lot of hardware makers with that comment. The truth is that software has a lower reproduction cost than hardare does, and while you can try to defray hardware costs by bundling things like service contracts, it's still not free.

"Yeah, and its a good thing I still only need 640k of RAM"

Good old internet Chinese whispers. He said 640k of ram was more than enough for that current generation of CPUs. Just like saying 2Gig (or whatever the limit is with 32bit) is more than enough for current applications)

As for the spammers car thingy....

I think promoting that is moronic. Great, hit the asswipe with anything and take his last pair of pants if needs be, but promoting the guy made a million bucks and has a nice little boxster?

Even more imbeciles are going to get into spamming because now there's in your face evidence of the money to be made.

Well done AOL. Dickheads!

Hardware to Be Nearly Free in 10 Years: Bill Gates.

Yeah, and its a good thing I still only need 640k of RAM... But can you imagine running Quake 3 on anything less!

Hahaha. Then again, you've probably had your hooky Windows burned onto CD-Rs. Uncle Bills probably got a percentage on those. Or the CDRW drive.
Somehow or other he's no doubt got his nob in your browneye.

Alas, we have all had to accept the sausage of Bill at some time or another. He is the drug baron. He gave me the first free hit when I was young and innocent. Now I cannot go or use anything else. I'm a dependent that doesn't give him any revenue yet reinforces the system that does...

Really must learn how to use Linux. My old boss just decided to throw as much MS out of our office as he could and use Linux instead. Unfortunately this was just as I left. Shame really.

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If you can keep your head when all about you have lost theirs, it is possible you haven't grasped the gravity of the situation.

Jean Kerr
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Video cards have NEVER had a rating like that on them, but most people know which cards are the fastest.

I disagree, for example if you asked my Mom if a Voodoo3 was faster than a Radeon 9700 she'd have no clue. If on the other hand you asked her which card is faster a Radeon 9700 or a Radeon 9000, she'd probably choose the 9700 (as 9700 > 9000).

The reason Intel wants to drop the Megahertz (or in this case gigahertz) numbers is that it is technical spec. Specs are easy to compare with competitors specs, whereas model names are difficult to compare with competitors' model names.

This is the same reason we had the Pentium, instead of the 586. 586 referred to the 5th generation of the x86 architecture (a technical spec), whereas Pentium is a name brand which can be patented. This was an issue during the time of the 486 for Intel as AMD & Cyrix put out their own 486 CPU's. So when Joe Blow walked into a store and said "I want a 486", the salesman would recommend the cheaper non-intel CPU's. But with the Pentium, if the same Joe Blow walked into a store and said "I want a Pentium", the salesperson could only give him an Intel product, or a sales pitch as to how the AMD or Cyrix or whoever's CPU was a "Pentium-class" CPU. Big difference. I truly believe that's why AMD started their naming scheme -- to differentiate themselves from Intel.

As for the Gates story, anybody else consider that maybe the richest man in America's idea of "free" is a whole lot different than yours or mine?

PZ
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Reading: Bertrand Russell's "Marriage and Morals"
Listening To: Nothing in particular
This comment was edited on Mar 30, 18:15.

In regards to Intel dumping the Gigahertz rating on their chips. I don't see this as a big deal. Video cards have NEVER had a rating like that on them, but most people know which cards are the fastest.

Thats true for people who know to check trustworthy webbies for benchmark tests, but for Joe Public it could be bad. They already buy machines with fast CPUs and 200gig HDDs, but with onboard Intel graphics. Now they might not even get a decent CPU. It could mean the bottom drops out of the quality in the market where people buy their glossy new TX-1200 Ultra XP RX Turbo machine from Dell, proudly packing a bin-worthy Celeron 800MHz.

In regards to Intel dumping the Gigahertz rating on their chips. I don't see this as a big deal. Video cards have NEVER had a rating like that on them, but most people know which cards are the fastest.

Microsoft lacks adequate forsight to predict a single year (that's 365 days) into the future, let along a whole decade.

Free Hardware Bill?

Hell, I've had free software for the last 10 years thanks to you!

Hahaha. Then again, you've probably had your hooky Windows burned onto CD-Rs. Uncle Bills probably got a percentage on those. Or the CDRW drive.
Somehow or other he's no doubt got his nob in your browneye.

This comment was edited on Mar 30, 14:21.

Free Hardware Bill?

Hell, I've had free software for the last 10 years thanks to you!

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If you can keep your head when all about you have lost theirs, it is possible you haven't grasped the gravity of the situation.

Jean Kerr
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I think what Gates is saying is that its all about services, not the HW. Services like, say those run by MS software.

after thinking about it for a bit, it kinda makes sense now... case in point would be cell phones being "free" to the end user.

the lesser of 2 evils (aol) is giving away the higher evils porsche. good stuff, i hate aol less now.

Im now looking for reasons to keep my SWG account active

He's already doing it with shitty hardware (Xbox) that loses the company money on every sale that's only recouped via income from the games it runs.

Not many companies can afford to run a business this way, so they'll either be forced to allow Gates to absorb them and their assets or simply fade away.

Basically, it will be however Bill wants it to be. Drop your britches.

huh? I'm no economics expert, but that assertion makes no sense to me. I can see software being nearly free as production costs aren't dependent on number of units sold. hardware though?