I’m Not Buying an Intel CPU
Here’s the reason, in a nutshell. Intel is paying Skype to disable features when the user is not using an Intel CPU.
I’ve been looking at buying a new system, eyeing the prices of the new Dell XPS systems. I’ve been doing more video processing lately, and my current system just takes too long.
I’ve always bought AMD systems, because they generally had a good price/performance ratio, but HyperThreading got me interested in Intel chips again, and the current Core Duo chips seem pretty good.
But technology aside, Intel’s deal with Skype shows the kind of company Intel is.
AMD and Intel have been fighting battles for years, with the consumer winning every time. But this particular battle is unfair, anti-competitive, and the consumer loses in the end.
I’ve become an occasional Skype user – I used it to call home when I was in San Jose - and while this particular limitation wouldn’t affect me, I will find VoIP software other than Skype to use as well.
This is a dangerous trend. All it would take is for Intel to pay a few big companies to not support AMD and AMD systems would get the reputation that Intel has always wanted them to have: That your AMD system won’t run all the great software that an Intel system would. I guess if you can’t out-engineer them you can out-market them.
Is this legal?