You might ask where I've been lately, and believe me when I say that I've been insanely busy. First with Voodoo things are, shall we say, nuts. We are working to launch a new product line in the very near future. CPU Magazine requested that I write a monthly column, which means I will probably link to each and every column from my blog - but it also means that my time is getting thin.

I also rode with Team Voodoo at the ride for MS this weekend (just a small group of us). We managed to raise some good money for MS research - it was a very well organized event. I'd like to thank all the people who sponsored me for this ride, it won't go unnoticed.

As many readers of my blog have witnessed I have been suggesting that there may be consolodation in the semiconductor space, and I have also said that ATi is a likely candidate for takeover. In my opinion ATi is a jewel that needs some polishing to make it into an amazing company.

I, like all of you, have read the rumors - and I do have an opinion on the potential of AMD and ATi coming together and I will share my opinion in the upcoming issue of CPU Magazine.
In the meantime people have been questioning whether or not I've "switched camps" - and I think you need to realize that I was never in one particular camp. Voodoo has always supported the best technology, that is why up until now we sell 100% AMD on the desktop and workstation, and about 50/50 AMD to Intel on notebooks. People can't expect Intel to remain in this position forever and as such we have been eagerly awaiting the launch of Conroe. I have been testing it, and as I said before it's *!%#ing fast. I honestly believe Intel Conroe is going to revive our industry and kick things into high gear.

I still believe Conroe will be a challenge for Intel to produce in volume so I am a firm believer that Intel will not wage a price war unless they are forced to. It's hard to wage a war when you don't have enough ammunition. ..and to be perfectly honest, Intel may be able to demand a premium for Conroe Extreme so why bother discounting it?

Regarding AMD in Dell, I don't believe AMD will allow Dell to cherry pick only the top end Opteron for their portfolio. It is my belief that Dell will launch more AMD, including Turion and Athlon 64 in the near future. So that's it for my random babble, I'll be back soon - and be sure to check out the next edition of CPU - it should be interesting.