Intel drops RAMBUS, commits to DDR II
From ComputerWorld Hong Kong:
http://www.idg.com.hk/cw/readstory.asp?aid=20030522004
From the article:
The article quotes a RAMBUS spokesman as saying that his company anticipates getting royalties from SDRAM manufacturers due to the patent violation suit that's currently got RAMBUS under the FTC's microscope, and that they're working on next-generation memory and bus technologies.
Frankly, I don't care how good their engineers are. They're ruthless and underhanded, and for that they deserve ignominy and bankruptcy. The engineers can easily find jobs with more deserving employers.
http://www.idg.com.hk/cw/readstory.asp?aid=20030522004
From the article:
Quote:
The company notified its developers in a "product notification change" e-mail distributed earlier this month that shipments of the 850E chipset for desktops and the 860 chipset for workstations would cease in May 2004. The move is just a formality, as Intel has demonstrated its commitment to DDR (double data rate) memory with the launch of the 875 chipset in April and the 865 chipset Wednesday, both of which support DDR400 memory over RDRAM (Rambus dynamic RAM).
"It's real clear that our focus for performance and mainstream (PCs) is dual DDR400. The next step is DDRII, and we anticipate seeing elements of that come into play in 2004," said George Alfs, an Intel spokesman. "At this time, we've made no announcements of new chipsets that support RDRAM," he said.
A few years ago, Intel strongly advocated RDRAM as the future of PC memory technology, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64 in Saratoga, California. It introduced two RDRAM chipsets for the Pentium 4 processor before finally introducing an SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM) chipset in September of 2001.
[...]
RDRAM is currently used in several consumer electronics devices and gaming platforms, Brookwood said. "But as far as mainstream PC or server technology, I think that window has closed," he said.
The company notified its developers in a "product notification change" e-mail distributed earlier this month that shipments of the 850E chipset for desktops and the 860 chipset for workstations would cease in May 2004. The move is just a formality, as Intel has demonstrated its commitment to DDR (double data rate) memory with the launch of the 875 chipset in April and the 865 chipset Wednesday, both of which support DDR400 memory over RDRAM (Rambus dynamic RAM).
"It's real clear that our focus for performance and mainstream (PCs) is dual DDR400. The next step is DDRII, and we anticipate seeing elements of that come into play in 2004," said George Alfs, an Intel spokesman. "At this time, we've made no announcements of new chipsets that support RDRAM," he said.
A few years ago, Intel strongly advocated RDRAM as the future of PC memory technology, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64 in Saratoga, California. It introduced two RDRAM chipsets for the Pentium 4 processor before finally introducing an SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM) chipset in September of 2001.
[...]
RDRAM is currently used in several consumer electronics devices and gaming platforms, Brookwood said. "But as far as mainstream PC or server technology, I think that window has closed," he said.
The article quotes a RAMBUS spokesman as saying that his company anticipates getting royalties from SDRAM manufacturers due to the patent violation suit that's currently got RAMBUS under the FTC's microscope, and that they're working on next-generation memory and bus technologies.
Frankly, I don't care how good their engineers are. They're ruthless and underhanded, and for that they deserve ignominy and bankruptcy. The engineers can easily find jobs with more deserving employers.
Comments
Originally Posted by Amorph:
Frankly, I don't care how good their engineers are. They're ruthless and underhanded, and for that they deserve ignominy and bankruptcy. The engineers can easily find jobs with more deserving employers.
I keep hearing this. What exactly did Rambus do to evoke the hatred of so many people?
Originally posted by hjordis71
What exactly did Rambus do to evoke the hatred of so many people?
They filed patents on stuff that other companies invented, and then tried to sue those companies.
Intel was Rambus's backer for the longest while, trying to push their tech onto PC manufacturers. (By 'backer', I mean as the primary financier of Rambus Inc.)
I was under the impression that Rambus actions were even more underhanded than just steal and sue. If I recall correctly, Rambus was on the standards committee/board for certain SDRAM tech. They left the group, patented the technology and then exhorted fees from anyone making said SDRAM. Nice. SCO is behaving much the same way with Linux. (If you are just using our code in Linux, we'll sue you. Nice.)
Screed