AMD makes like it is the NOISE coalition, and Intel becomes the Microsoft of 2005, aka, the press' whipping boy.
Please tell me you did not see this one coming!
When the NOISE couldn't compete, and ran crying to the US DOJ and the EU, Intel was on the sidelines with its market-leading (at the time) CPUs. And I am quite sure Grove and Barrett must have laughed at Microsoft's travails.
Now the foot is in the other shoe, and with the news of the EU raids on Intel offices throughout the EU today, some Remondians must say, "Aha! Aha! Our eyes have seen it!"
You've got to wonder where the (supposedly?) intelligent people at Intel were all along to let the situation deterioate to this extent. This, after winning, the DOJ investigation in the US.
Seems as if they did not learn that despite the law, being successful, having a good market cap., and a great market share can get you in antitrust hot water, just like Microsoft.
And they should have stopped the strongarm tactics when it was deemed illegal for a company with a monopoly market share to do so. Even if, as in the Microsoft case, it was legally obtained.
They should have learned from the Microsoft saga, and if they didn't, that is unforgiveable.
IMO, unlike the MS case, this, coupled with the recent stumbling in chip primacy by Intel, will definitely not go away if there is even a whiff, of a smell, of a smoking gun.
(This article assumes that Intel is innocent of all charges; until found guilty in a court of law.)
NOISE: Novell, Oracle, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Everyone else.
** All trademarks are, and remain, the properties of their respective owners **