The FTC is at it again and this time it is not Microsoft they are looking at this time, it is Intel. Yes Intel our best friend that could never do anything wrong to us… right? Well nothing is public yet and the trial is not until September of 2010 but we can take a look at the market today, and look at what is out there for us to get. Well if you were to walk into a Wal-Mart and look at they got you will probably see 10 computers and maybe one of them will has a AMD chip in it. Why is this well it is because Intel offers a rebate for OEM’s to use their chips. That doesn’t sound bad. Its savings that could be passed on to consumers.
The FTC thinks that Intel is a monopoly. Which is defined as “exclusive control of a commodity or service in a particular market, or a control that makes possible the manipulation of prices” and Intel dose have somewhat of an exclusive control over the Netbook market. Just look at netbooks its all Intel Atom CPUs, you don’t see any AMD CPU’s or even VIA CPU’s in netbooks. The netbook market is pretty much run by Intel.
Why don’t we see more AMD CPU’s in desktop computers? Well most would argue that Intel CPU’s are superior witch is true but what about for the average person walking into a Best Buy looking to buy their family a PC and just needs to the normal every day stuff like surfing the web, playing some games, and work. Wouldn’t an AMD CPU do that just as good? But most OEM’s go with Intel chips. Now these choices are made by the OEM. They could have their reasons, or there could be something going on that we do not know yet.
The FTC also thinks that Intel is stopping innovation. I think there could be argument to be made that Intel has execrate innovation. Intel chips run cooler and have use less power than other chips, but you pay for that. While AMD chips use more power tend to run a little hotter, but are cheaper. FTC says there is no choice for consumers witch I feel is not true you could always get a PC with a AMD chip in it you may have to look a little harder but they are there. It’s the fault of the consumer that most people just don’t look they don’t even care Intel is just a name on the box. Most people that buy computers don’t know what a CPU is or what it does.
Intel says that there CPU’s are better than their competitors. This may be true but FTC says
[1]“ In addition, allegedly, Intel secretly redesigned key software, known as a compiler, in a way that deliberately stunted the performance of competitors’ CPU chips. Intel told its customers and the public that software performed better on Intel CPUs than on competitors’ CPUs, but the company deceived them by failing to disclose that these differences were due largely or entirely to Intel’s compiler design”. Now I’m no coder but from what I make of this is Intel has some secret stuff in there compiler that makes it harder for other CPU’s to make heads or tails what program wants to do, so when programs run on other CPU’s they don’t run as smoothly as if they were running on a Intel CPU. If I’m wrong please tell me so I can correct that.
The trail is not set until September of 2010. This is going to be something to keep an eye on. I’m sure there will be a lot to learn between now and then. Is Intel guilty? I do not know that, what I do know is there is something fishy going on over at Intel. Though I do not think that it is enough for the FTC to be suing Intel over it.
[1] FTC document http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/12/intel.shtm
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