The
The Wall Street Journal has long been Intel's ra-ra girl, defending the company blindly against anti-trust actions, as though anti-trust was some kind of nasty foreign, probably socialist, conception dreamed up by jealous foreigners to whack US capitalism.
Well it isn't. Anti-trust law was invented by the USA with the Sherman Act of 1890, which was passed to stop the ravages of John D Rockefeller's attempt to impose monopoly control of the supply of oil on the
In those days 'Freedom' to Americans meant the freedom of everyone. It meant the freedom of the little guy not to be oppressed by big guys.
After all that's the principle on which
Now 'Freedom' in
If there were 20 suppliers of PC processors all competing against eachother, would the average price of a PC processor be $100? Obviously not.
Yet Intel and its press poodles repeat that consumers have had a good deal from competition and innovation in the PC processor industry.
The semiconductor industry used to use comparisons with the car industry to show how the evolution of chips decimated prices every decade while quadrupling performance.
They would say stuff like: 'If the car industry had evolved at the same pace as the chip industry, then a Cadillac would now run 100,000 miles on a pint of gas and have a maximum speed of 250 miles an hour and would cost $10.'
Even Gordon Moore used to use such comparisons. Probably because they pointed up the economic effects of
But, and here's the big but: The irony is that the most archetypal product enabled by the invention of the microprocessor - the PC - did not see much price erosion over the first 20 years or so of its lifetime.
For many a year the price of a PC stuck at around the $1,000 mark.
Could that have had anything to do with the bipolar supply situation of PC processors? And the dominance of Intel within that bipolar supply situation?
I think it might.
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Comments (3)
Quote "Now 'Freedom' in America is often used as a word to allow big guys to oppress small guys."
INVENTORS - DO NOT TRUST INTEL
I invented a CPU cooler - 3 times better than best - better than water. Intel have major CPU cooling problems - "Intel's microprocessors were generating so much heat that they were melting" (iht.com) - try to talk to them - they send my communications to my competitor & will not talk to me.
Winners of major 'Corporate Social Responsibility' award.
Huh!!!!
When did RICO get repealed?"
Be advised
1) I am prepared to kill to protect my IP (Intel HAVE NOT stolen it AFAIK - so you can't Sean Dix me) and
2) I am prepared to die to get TRUE patent reform.
IPROAG - The Intellectual Property Rightful Owners Action Group.
The One Dollar Patent.
Posted by Not Edwin Armstrong II | November 9, 2009 10:27 AM
Posted on November 9, 2009 10:27
All of the sycophants that keep saying the price of the PC has come down immensely because of Intel, actually have the current dysfunctional lobsided duopoly competition to thank for that. Imagine how much further the prices would've come down if the competition was more fair? As it stands now, new PC's have stubbornly refused to go down below $200, much as they refused to go below $1000 in the days when Intel enjoyed full monopoly rule. A PC that could be $50 should be possible if there were more competition.
Posted by Yousuf Khan | November 9, 2009 7:24 PM
Posted on November 9, 2009 19:24
Spot on Yousuf. When Intel says that the consumer has not been harmed by the workings of the PC processor market, Intel is having a laugh. A laugh at the consumer's expense.
Posted by David Manners
|
November 9, 2009 8:01 PM
Posted on November 9, 2009 20:01