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Another Buyout Rumor (10/6/97)
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In a nightmare twist of events, Digital Equipment Corporation is rumored to be in talks with Intel to sell its Alpha processor lock, stock, and barrel to the tune of $1.5 billion. See this short Yahoo article for yourself.
DEC's Alpha chip is essentially a high-speed competitor of Intel's Pentium; while the Pentium variants are typically used in personal computers, however, the Alpha is also used in high-end unix workstations. (And the Alphas can actually do math.) In terms of raw clock speed, the Alpha has been at and above 500 MHz for quite a while now. And yes, there is a version of Microsoft NT that runs on the Alpha (though there aren't nearly as many applications for Alpha NT as there are for Intel NT).
Months ago, DEC sued Intel for patent infringement, claiming that Intel had used several technologies that Digital had patented and used in the Alpha. Intel then countersued DEC, for essentially the same thing. We took this move to be more of a bargaining chip than anything else; countersuits can make it easier to negotiate a settlement before the case gets to court.
The rumor was that DEC's original lawsuit was an attempt to slow Intel's development of the IA-64 (aka Merced), its next-generation processor that Intel is creating with Hewlett-Packard. The Merced is rumored to be a serious competitor to the Alpha, and anything else. So why are we worried? If Intel buys the Alpha, they effectively eliminate one of their few serious competitors, and the Merced ships earlier-- and the PowerPC may not keep the performance edge it enjoys right now. And right now the Mac platform needs to hold every advantage it can.
Why would Digital sell? Well, they haven't been doing so well in recent years. It's a matter of superior technology losing to superior marketing. (Sound familiar?) We can only wait and see if the deal goes through.
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 10/6/97 episode: October 6, 1997: (Sorry—this was before we started writing intro text for each episode!)
Other scenes from that episode: 56: Full-Time Jobs (10/6/97) While it's not our favorite place to go for news, USA Today has an article about Steve Jobs and his slow but sure re-entrenchment in the company he helped to found. When you consider the series of events, it's tough not to think that Steve's going to be running the show for a good long time... 58: It's an NC/It's a Mac (10/6/97) Our hero Mac the Knife is reporting that the Apple NC's, due to premiere at the January Expo and to ship shortly thereafter, are a little more Mac than strict NC. The latest buzz is that the boxes will sport a zippy 300 MHz PPC 750 and will take up to 100MB of RAM, far more than an average NC... 59: "Dyn-o-miiiite!" (10/6/97) Wow, another award! This time we're proud to have been chosen as today's Dynamite Site of the Nite! And let us tell you, there is nothing better than being listed on a web site that has Jimmy "J...
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