Intel's Third Nipple...

This article is an extended version of the one written for the latest issue of Custom PC Magazine in the U.K.

When Intel launched Viiv I recall the confusion it provided PC OEMs, System Builders, and Channel partners alike. Like a third nipple no one really understood the value of Viiv or what it was meant to add to the customer experience. If you ask me, Viiv was developed by marketing people to sell more Intel components – for no good reason. I even remember having a discussion with a CEO of another OEM about Viiv and we were laughing at how confusing it was. Although Intel would like to see differently, Viiv is/was a total failure, and in no way should be compared to Centrino.

It seems as if Centrino was developed by engineers in order to improve the experience of owning a notebook – and, luckily for Intel, it somehow got backed into a marketing strategy with a platform name.

Intel Centrino made sense because there was significant value add for the customer – although such value-add is starting to get lost in the shuffle of competition. Thus the difference between Viiv and Centrino is one offers actual benefit to the consumer while the other is just a sales pitch – and a seemingly useless one at that.

Equally disappointing as Viiv was AMD’s attempt to create their own Viiv, calling it LIVE! AMD claims to have developed LIVE! well before Viiv, regardless of when it was developed they still didn't do a good job of communicating what it meant to the consumer. Some at AMD believe that Live! positioned directly against Viiv actually helped AMD in retail. Although AMD has some interesting software offerings with Live! Regardless, I personally think both are crap implementations of pretty much nothing. Remember, this is just my opinion :)

In the ideal world no one should care what sticker is on the outside of the “box” as it pertains to processors. My mom could care less if she had an Intel processor with Viiv or an AMD processor with LIVE! She just wants a computer that’s easy to use. She wants to get on the internet, check her email, play a few games, and use MSN messenger.

As an enthusiast, I don’t care what sticker is on the outside (other than my brand of course) – in fact, we refuse to put AMD, Microsoft, Intel, or Nvidia stickers on the outside of our gaming systems. It’s not about them, and that’s the way it should be. It’s SHOULD be about you, the customer, and nothing more – right? ...In an ideal world perhaps.

...time for a rant.

This goes for Nvidia and ATI video cards – assuming the performance is similar, as long as your machine delivers the best possible experience for your particular application does it really matter which chip is in the machine? I think not. Every time someone from Nvidia sells us on the benefits of SLI over Crossfire, I feel like telling them “tell that to those customers who purchased QUAD SLI and can’t get it to work with Vista...!”

Nvidia Vista drivers are getting better (though not nearly perfect – I still can’t fly a plane from Calgary to Seattle in MS Flight Simulator X without my SLI based system barfing in Vista). Yes, perhaps their drivers for their 8800 series are getting better - but Nvidia still needs to go back and fix the thousand dollar graphics packages that they sold last year - and fast! Customers who spent $1,000 on a dual graphics configuration are asked to disable one in order to run many games – which effectively means they spent $500 on a heat generator that draws power. Though I have experienced issues with ATI, it’s just not nearly as bad. Perhaps it's time for people to stop blaming Microsoft for all of their problems and start fixing them.

Here’s hoping for a future where AMD, Nvidia, Intel and others start focussing on platforms that add value to the customer experience, rather than their bottom line, so we can build systems that make sense.