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The Latest Transmeta Rumor
Today's Transmeta rumor is from Red Herring. Their story gives more details than the c't article we pointed to earlier this week, but is still full of unattributed info. Supposedly Transmeta's "real" Web site will debut with ruffles and flourishes Monday evening when Linus Torvalds gives his Comdex keynote speech, and all these little advance leaks are supposed to pique our curiosity about what he's going to say. Okay, mine's piqued. How about yours?
According to Netcraft, they are using Apache 1.1.1, which is OLD! Old old old old old! Ancient, even!
As for the rumours, we'll know when we know, and not before. Amiga proved that, rather better than they'd hoped, and certainly not in the way they intended.
If there's a major announcement on Monday, it'll be just in time to send major shock-waves through the stock markets (already reeling from the Microsoft "finding of fact"), and (depending on what any such announcement even is) may make the hardware industry rather jittery. We're approaching the year 2000, and many companies are bracing for lawsuits, computer & hardware failures within their own sites, and other such pleasentry. Revolutionary hardware, which redefines what a computer is, is not on the list of things IT managers want, right now.
But we don't even know what it is that Transmeta is doing! We have a handful of patents, most of old technology (according to the dates) and we've no idea if any final product released will make use of any of it. It might, it might not. We don't know, we have no way of knowing, we don't even know if these were real, or defensive smokescreens to protect trade secrets.
The only people who -do- know may or may not say anything on Monday, or any other day of the week, any week of the year, any year until the end of the NEXT millenium.
Speculation, at this point, is based on 4 lines of web page, 3 patents of uncertain age & purpose, a job list, and a list of associated companies, none of which mesh in any way that I can see, unless this is a combined graphics, sound & regular processor, any segment of which can emulate in a mix of hardware & firmware any other processor of that type.
This seems improbably complex, unless Transmeta have moved to wafer-scales (which I'd like to see) but since they don't fab and no other plant can do 0.18 micron wafer-scale, with any reliability, it seems unlikely.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Regardless of what product Transmeta eventually produces (assuming they actually do produce a product someday), you must admit they have a brilliant, practically Zen approach to Public Relations.
It doesn't matter if their product turns out to be vaporware, or the second coming of Christ in the form of a microprocessor, they've got us all so worked up over it that Linus could just walk up to the podium and eat a bowl of cereal at Comdex and we'd provide days of analysis and discussion on what we thought his body language revealed. Fscking *brilliant*
In a world becoming increasingly accustomed to ridiculous amounts of needless information on simply *everything* they've distinguished themselves from the pack in the only way possible: by providing no information whatsoever.
(Note that by [not] distinguishing themselves in this way, they've actually created a higher information density...)
I'm simply in awe, and undoubtedly waiting just as eagerly as the rest of you...
Anthony
^X^X
Segmentation fault (core dumped)
"I think any time you expose vulnerabilities it's a good thing." -Attorney General Janet Reno
Oh, I see what they're doing....
Nothing! They wait for speculations to converge, and then work towards realising that goal. It is quite brilliant. They're letting the industrys wildest dreams and fantasies define their product line.
This way, when they deliver what everyone has, in effect, suggested to them, they'll be hailed as visionaries and innovators of the greatest caliber.
It's like Microsoft's focus-group driven market research, only in the open-source way... They didn't solicit. Whatever we thought was useful, we gladly contributed to creating....
Or maybe they're just openning up a penguin farm.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
(in a Charlton Hestonian accent) It's People !!!!!!!! It's People !!!!!!!!!!!! Transmeta Is People !!!!!!!!!!!!
Hates people who have stupid little sigs