The Computing Landscape Has Changed.

This article focuses on changes that have occurred in the U.S. computer industry, as of June 2004. Apparently, there have been surprises in processors and technology that have changed the whole playing field. Such unexpected events involve almost all of the major players in processors and systems. One of such changes allegedly happened to Intel, which is considered the world's biggest processor manufacturer. The company was allegedly set to bring its new 90 nanometer Prescott chips into the market and had updated Itanium chips in the queue. At such a time, the Opteron chips of AMD were allegedly becoming a major challenge for Intel, as they were both powerful and offered 64-bit extensions while still running 32-bit code very well. When Intel's prime partner with Itanium, Hewlett-Packard, brought Opteron systems to market, Intel allegedly announced that it would supply 64-bit capability when the customers needed it. The Prescott chips allegedly hit the performance web sites with unimpressive marks, some slower than the existing 130 nanometer Northwood Pentium processors. Worse, the Prescott allegedly had a current leakage problem that caused them to use more power and require better cooling to just match the Northwood's performance.