[vox] funny tom's hardware article: AMD vs intel ... AGAIN!

[Peter Jay Salzman]

i don't usually read non-technical stuff, but this one was recommended
and i thought it was hilarious.  tom's hardware has always been an "AMD
site" but this is the funniest piece they've had on AMD vs intel in a
loooong time.

note: as usual, tom always speaks very highly about linux, even if none
of his benchmarks are done on linux...   :-(  :-(  :-(

here are the highlights:




<warning>
   if you're an intel fan, you might as well press "d" now....
</warning>



Confusing the Market Place

In the first place AMD's processors have not just been fodder for the
geekish for quite some time now.  They are good, they are reliable, they
do what they say they will ...  from STOCK, not from bogus
"announcements" aimed at Stock Market Analysts.

...

For an example of "obscurantism" consider the detour into "chip geometry
and design protocols" advanced by Intel for their "vaporware" 64 Bit
processor.  ...  The ordinary punter is concerned with availability
(even the geeks like to touch the widgets) and reliability.  It makes
... more sense to be concerned whether your processor choice glows in
the dark from heat generation or uses enough electricity to drive
Niagara Falls backwards than it does to descend into the rarified
scientific jabber discussing "internal line width" on the processor die
and promulgating a pseudo-scientific debate about "stressed silicon vs
regular silicon."

...

There has never been a war going on between AMD and Intel. Intel has been
boss hog at the trough since 1971.  Unfortunately, lately they have (like
a certain software company) been fighting with their mouths instead of
their obvious intelligence.

...

First of all, I wished to get a price comparison between Lemons and AMD.
AMD can deliver the parts today and Intel cannot.

...

AMD licensed the [80386] design, improved it and built a very good 40
MHz version of the 80386 and delivered it for a small fraction of
Intel's price.  Intel's [80386 couldn't] get anywhere near 40 Mhz.  So
Intel sued AMD and claimed that AMD had peeked at their design code and
made changes. AMD basically said "yes we did that and found the flaws
and fixed them". "We also made our processor with better internal
geometry in new fabs with new equipment". A Federal judge agreed with
them so Intel lost that lawsuit and AMD built a design center in Austin,
Texas on the proceeds.

...

Besides, except for Linux, who has a REAL 64 bit operating system?

...

Apparently AMD does not suck up to Microsoft and so they have the same
problems running MS operating systems that anyone not attached to
Microsoft at the hip does.  ... If you believe that Intel has won the
"war" and AMD is all done, please contact me. I have a choice piece of
bridge real estate in Brooklyn, New York for sale and I will negotiate a
once in a lifetime price for you.

-- 
Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler.  -- Albert Einstein
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