>On Fri, 11 Dec 1998 04:06:36 -0500, "David G Fisher"
>>I'm so tired of people bit**ing at Intel and MS. People constantly make
>>excuses to rip off big companies. Glad to hear Karl give a logical
>>explanation for why something is done the way it is.
>Amen.
>Intel, like any other business, exist not to make processors for
>people but to make money. They are not a charity. If they "ripped
>people off" by charging high prices that is their decision and their
>right, in fact they owe it to their shareholders who have invested
>their money and their trust in Intel to be succesful.
head <g>. John, Intel has a defacto monopoly here in certain
software segments... I hear that shareholder value B.S. everytime
my multi-billion dollar employer cuts my wages while the CEO (who
could not even _do_ my job) pulls down a million dollar bonus for
the year... which P.O.'s the front line grunts and results in the
customers getting grumpier service which decreases shareholder
value.. ad nauseum. It sounds good on paper to the NYSE and the
FTSE, but in reality it's a gouge. The instituional investors
may love it, but that is a case of the tail wagging the dog.
The right that the customer actually has in this particular
situation is to buy an inferior CPU (AMD/Cyrix) for the game/sim
he/she is going to run, due to the copyright laws which I have
absolutely no problem with... until the market gets cornered. Of
course, MS has generally gotten away with *** in this arena,
and Andy Grove more-or-less gleefully rides along on Gate's
coattails (latest spates notwithstanding). WinTel indeed...
Rgds,
Mark R.