There are now three competitors in the processor race; AMD, Intel, and Transmeta Crusoe (not yet on the market). The relevance of this is that Intel's Processor will still be the most expensive CPU with no extras. Intel has had problems in the past as Kam, from the UK says, "It wasn't until the Celeron fiasco that people started to see through their overpricing/shoddy products." This forced the worlds leading computer manufacturer (Compaq) to start making their systems with the AMD processor.
In 1994, Intel Pentium had a FPU bug. www.computerhope.com/help/cpu.htm says "This bug evolved the Pentium incorrectly performing floating-point calculations with certain number combinations, with errors anywhere from the third digit on up. This issue can occur on 120MHz and above Pentium computers". The FPU scare is enough to make a person not want to purchase Intel products again. They're more than just the FPU bug, There is also a security scare. Intel's Pentium III processor put individual number tags on each chip that could search the programs on a system when a person goes online. Zdnet at www.zdnet.com reviews the scare as being an invasion of privacy!.
The Invasion of privacy issue as talked about above can be a huge problem for several reasons. It can irritate people who are already irritated with the problem of an insecure Internet. Also, it can get people in trouble with the law, for copy-right and pirating of software. It's kind of like a little tattle tail that sits over your shoulder and monitors every little thing that a person does. The problem with this is people would not want to buy a computer with a little tattle tail in it. This was what gave AMD its second big break in processor history. .
In Intel's mind this gave them the initiative to start building better more reliable chips without the privacy bug CPU's like the Pentium III's later model processors. This processor comes closer to the AMD Athlon's speed, price, and reliability.
