On Mon, 14 Aug 2000, Derek Martin wrote:
> There's nothing preventing a Celeron from proper SMP out of the box other
> than Intel's greed -- the workaround is simple for both types of
> processors.
It is standard practice in many industries to charge "high-end" customers
more to subsidize "low-end" customers. This is often accomplished by selling
the same stuff to both customers, but with some features disabled on the
"low-end" models. The theory is, high-end customers can afford it, and it
lets low-end customers have access to technology they otherwise couldn't
afford at all.
I actually think Intel did us a favor with this one. They could easily have
developed a more sophisticated method of disabling SMP on the Celery, but they
didn't. Maybe there are a few friendly engineers somewhere inside Intel.
If you think Intel is bad, you should try looking at the pricing models of
comm equipment like firewalls and phone systems. For example, we resell a VPN
system which comes with different levels of user limits. 10, 25, 50, etc.
The only difference between the different "models" is the user limit and the
price. You can even buy (expensive) "upgrades" to higher user levels which
consist entirely of a license key.
(This is not to say Intel isn't a greedy, money-grubbing, monopolistic
company. They are. I just don't think this is a good example of it.)
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Technologies, Inc. <http://www.ntisys.com>
Voice: (800)905-3049 x18 Fax: (978)499-7839
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