AMD files antitrust case against Intel

[pchan]

AMD is a late comer to CPU manufacturing, ...........

Incorrect fact !

Jerry Sanders... AMD founder was a sales guy from Fairchild semiconductor. So as the pioneer of TI, Intel etc.. have their roots from Fairchild. AMD has its own processor.... e.g. 29K risc processor.

So, AMD and Intel started at about the same time. Jerry has since retired. The current AMD CEO is Hector Ruiz, who was formerly from Motorola semiconductor.

[DereX888]

next case we'll see will be Hyundai lawsuit against GM (or Chrysler, Toyota, etc etc) for 'unfair' practices of selling more reliable cars than them, therefore actively discouraging potential buyers from chosing their craps, oops, i meant cars... Gosh, competitors making better competitive product - now isn't that so unfair business practice?

AMD is cheap, thats the only advantage. But not everyone on this earth is poor, and not everyone has a need of patting himslef in the back with "more bang for a buck" marketing slogans

F*ck AMD. F*ck Intel as well.

When AMD will make better chips - people will buy it, even at higher prices (see 64bit FX chips). "People" in general are not that stupid as the slogan-making advertising creators think. But for AMD just one good chip so far makes no difference, therefore 20-30% share of the market is already more than AMD ever expected.
While some $50-100 difference between Intel and AMD comparable chips may make a difference in a third world countries, it doesnt make any difference in the western countries. And still "the west" is buying more CPUs than the rest of the world, and guys from AMD know it. Make no mistake its not recently AMD has learned about this Intel's bad practices, Im sure it was going on for years, and it didn't bug AMD at all. Why? Because they were still slowly gaining market share, until last year, when they've hit end of the road in growth terms. They can't design more better chips to overthrow Intel's hegemony, and the "poorman's market" is already saturated. They did what any corporation does in such situation - litigation against competitor
IMO they've become greedy, thats all.

Its all business, aka its all about money (as always).
Thanks to good publicity (lets not forget that society always favors the underdogs) AMD will have lots of useful idiots helping them ranting against intel

[tlegion]

I could be wrong, but under the same thinking, Coca-Cola "forcing" (or "bribing") schools into 5-year "Coke only" contracts would probably be just as illegal, and they're not.

I think that's the gist of it, the analogy would be that you have 10 schools and in two of them your selling Pepsi. Coke withholds it's product because they know you can't sell pepsi in the 8 schools set up for selling the Coke product. Therefore a significant amount of your business is going to suffer essentially forcing you to drop the other product.

The Coke/Pepsi situation is more collusion of equals (more or less) than the Intel/AMD, or Micro$oft/Everyone else situations. For decades, Coke and Pepsi have traded holiday promotions in supermarkets, they have had joint-exclusive agreements with the manufacturers of certain vending machines and has anyone seen a third-party non-store-brand cola lately? RC Cola? Franks? Shasta? Check the bottom shelves.

[DereX888]

I could be wrong, but under the same thinking, Coca-Cola "forcing" (or "bribing") schools into 5-year "Coke only" contracts would probably be just as illegal, and they're not.

I think that's the gist of it, the analogy would be that you have 10 schools and in two of them your selling Pepsi. Coke withholds it's product because they know you can't sell pepsi in the 8 schools set up for selling the Coke product. Therefore a significant amount of your business is going to suffer essentially forcing you to drop the other product.

The Coke/Pepsi situation is more collusion of equals (more or less) than the Intel/AMD, or Micro$oft/Everyone else situations. For decades, Coke and Pepsi have traded holiday promotions in supermarkets, they have had joint-exclusive agreements with the manufacturers of certain vending machines and has anyone seen a third-party non-store-brand cola lately? RC Cola? Franks? Shasta? Check the bottom shelves.

If 2 (or more) companies work together to eliminate other competitors - isn't it called cartel, and isn't it illegal in most of the countries?
Despite different names their products are almost the same. They have same prices, same selections, etc etc. If you count number of promotions run by any of them during any given year - you'll discover they both have exactly same number of promotions, number of days their promotions run etc etc. I wouldn't be surprised if their tv ads are run in similar fashion Perfect harmony, like in any well organised cartel
Coke & Pepsi are just too big for anybody to touch them, so no one will dare to sue them ever, and those who supposed to protect us from such cartel will always pretend nothing happened

[lordsmurf]

Most colas are owned by 3-4 groups.

[Nilfennasion]

Yes, but Pepsi and Coca-Cola are not in the habit of trying to modify the tongue of their users in order to make them only drink that product. Both Microsoft and to a lesser extent Intel have been doing the exact equivalent of that. In the cola market, if you don't like Pepsi or Coca-Cola, you can always go to the bottom of the section and buy RC Cola or Weight Watchers cola. AMD and Linux aside, PC users do not have such choices. In fact, the latter pretty much counts as not having any choice anyway.

[BJ_M]

AMD is a late comer to CPU manufacturing, ...........

Incorrect fact !

Jerry Sanders... AMD founder was a sales guy from Fairchild semiconductor. So as the pioneer of TI, Intel etc.. have their roots from Fairchild. AMD has its own processor.... e.g. 29K risc processor.

So, AMD and Intel started at about the same time. Jerry has since retired. The current AMD CEO is Hector Ruiz, who was formerly from Motorola semiconductor.

yes i mentioned this a few times already ... they are the same age

[BJ_M]

next case we'll see will be Hyundai lawsuit against GM (or Chrysler, Toyota, etc etc) for 'unfair' practices of selling more reliable cars than them, therefore actively discouraging potential buyers from chosing their craps, oops, i meant cars... Gosh, competitors making better competitive product - now isn't that so unfair business practice?

<snip>

more likely GM will sue Hyundai nowadays as Hyundai (now) builds more reliable cars ... or at least everyone suing Toyota (specially the boyz from the 3 pointed star company)

[DereX888]

next case we'll see will be Hyundai lawsuit against GM (or Chrysler, Toyota, etc etc) for 'unfair' practices of selling more reliable cars than them, therefore actively discouraging potential buyers from chosing their craps, oops, i meant cars... Gosh, competitors making better competitive product - now isn't that so unfair business practice?

<snip>

more likely GM will sue Hyundai nowadays as Hyundai (now) builds more reliable cars ... or at least everyone suing Toyota (specially the boyz from the 3 pointed star company)

Well, you may be correct (I don't know Hyundai cars at all). It wouldn't surprise me if it was the other way around ( <- sad because what happened to "proudly made in usa"? )

[Nilfennasion]

( <- sad because what happened to "proudly made in usa"? sad.gif )

I think it is partly to do with Americans taking their jobs for granted, but that is only the impression I get from watching documentaries about the Union movement. When you see those ads telling one to buy American, they don't offer a good reason. No statements to the effect that American cars are cheaper, give better mileage, are more efficient, or have a lower overall cost of ownership. No, just buy it because it is American. Australia is facing a very similar problem and burying its head in the sand in similar fashion.

[inuyasha]

Jerry Sanders... AMD founder was a sales guy from Fairchild semiconductor. So as the pioneer of TI, Intel etc.. have their roots from Fairchild. AMD has its own processor.... e.g. 29K risc processor.

So, AMD and Intel started at about the same time....

That's absolutely right.
When I previously described AMD as a late comer to cpu manufacturing, I was actually referring to the x86 based cpu.
AMD did not invent the x86 architecture, but was brought on board by Intel to be a second source provider to make cpus for IBM under a cross-license agreement with Intel. From the 8088 to the 486's, AMD's cpus are just modified clones from the Intel's counterparts.
It was not till 1993/94 when the license expired and AMD had to start fresh with their own x86 design.
Now 10 years after the launching of the k5, AMD is still in business and that says something about its products.
The key point was to win business by product quality / customer service rather than knocking the rivals out by dirty tricks. That goes for all companies.... well..... maybe except M$ which is rich enough that can buy any competitions out.