From charlatan's workspace

Intel coerced and paid computer manufacturers like Dell, Acer, Gateway, IBM and Hewlett-Packard not to use any AMD products.

You might be able to get some money back on your computer in a class action lawsuit if it ever gains any footing.

http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/107495
Intel "paid vendors not to use AMD"

Processor manufacturer AMD has introduced new evidence in the anti-trust case against its competitor Intel, in federal court in the US state of Delaware. According to the Wall Street Journal, the evidence shows that Intel coerced and paid computer manufacturers like Dell, Acer, Gateway, IBM and Hewlett-Packard not to use any AMD products. Large swathes of the 108-page document that the court made public on Monday are blacked out to prevent trade secrets from being made public.

According to AMD, the new evidence is the result of an evaluation of 200 million pages of documents which AMD obtained from Intel and PC manufacturers in a discovery request. According to US press reports, AMD's legal counsel, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, claims that these materials contain documented email exchanges between leading PC manufacturer employees and Intel that demonstrate the illegal practice of crowding competitors out of the market. Intel denies all of the allegations and accuses AMD of using the courts to protect itself from legitimate competition.

AMD filed suit in Delaware against Intel in June of 2005, accusing its competitor of abusing its monopolistic position. The complaint charges that customers were forced not to use AMD processors. At that time the Japanese anti-trust body was investigating Intel and the EU Commission also had its eye on Intel's behaviour. In 2006, AMD contacted the German anti-cartel office (Bundeskartellamt), claiming that Media Saturn Holding – majority share holders in the two largest retail electronics chain stores in Germany – was giving Intel preferential treatment. Intel's German office was searched in February of this year in connection with the complaint. The German Federal Government changed its procurement practices for IT projects nearly four years ago as a result of a complaint from AMD. (jk/c't)

created by charlatan on May 07, 2008 at 08:52:51 pm Comments: 6

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Comments ... #

It's a shame AMD never released it's own desktops and laptops.

They could have sidestepped Dell, HP, etc. and done some brick and mortar marketing with consumer direct retailing.

They could have even removed MS from the equation if they wanted.

More details:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080507-amd-intels-misdeeds-killing-our-long-term-sustainability.html

posted by charlatan on May 07, 2008 at 09:03:19 pm     #

I wonder if this is mostly in Europe. I have a H-P a646c with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor that I bought at Sam's Club in May 2005. I will probably go with a faster Athlon processor when I can afford it (in a new desktop). Athlon-based machines seem to be cheaper but I do see Intel competing with price/performance chips.

posted by oldsendbrdy on May 07, 2008 at 11:46:24 pm     #

Personally, if I have a choice, I won't buy a computer with an Intel processor in it!

posted by justsimplyholly on May 08, 2008 at 08:38:34 am     #

Intel lost in Japan and immediately AMD filed in the states, where we apparently approve of harming customers in the name of legitimate business.

It all comes down to software. People get the latest greatest computer with impressive measurables, then bog it down with bloated cutesy OS's like OSX Leopard or Vista.

I swear Microsoft only helped keep Apple alive to justify charging massive money for marginally decent software and upgrades.

posted by charlatan on May 08, 2008 at 05:41:04 pm     #

I'm gonna stick with XP for as long as I can. I have it running on a 1.6 celeron thats stuck on a converter board in a bh6 motherboard. It was a p2 333mhz when I built it. It has a whopping 640m of ram, Vista will NEVER run on it, but it still does what I need it to do, why should i upgrade and give M$ more money?

posted by Linecrosser on May 09, 2008 at 10:03:05 am     #

You'd be surprised what you can get Vista to run on with a bit of mental grease.

I've get an 8 year old Dell that runs a tweaked version faster than the display ones at Best Buy.

posted by charlatan on May 11, 2008 at 09:20:16 pm     #