Theos-Talk Archives (October 1997 Message tl00320)

At 04:36 PM 10/20/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Bart Lidofsky wrote:
>> 
>> ramadoss@eden.com wrote:
>> > Several months ago, Intel was the target when it had distributed bug ridden
>> > chips and it was the incessant barrage from dedicated users which made them
>> > relent and accept the fact and take action to replace. Initially Intel's
>> > position was that the user had to demonstrate they have a problem with the
>> > chip in the applications they use the computer for. It even ended up with
>> > IRS issuing a notification that no one can claim that their tax return info
>> > was erroneous due to the buggy chip!
>> 
>>         Your message shows the power of the media over truth. The error in
>> Intel chips was so tiny, that if someone had a tax return of billions of
>> dollars, any error caused by the chip would have been less than a penny.
>> Unless you were using your computer for work with quantum mechanics,
>> space travel, or astrophysics, the error was merely an academic
>> curiousity, and would never touch anything you did. It's sort of like
>> having a Ming Vase with a tiny chip on the inside, near the bottom. Yes,
>> there is a flaw, but if you didn't know it was there, it would never
>> affect your enjoyment of it.
>> 
>>         Maybe a couple of hundred people were affected by the flaw. Intel
>> rightly did not wish to have to replace millions of chips to fix the
>> problems of a couple of hundred. So they tried to ensure that those who
>> wished the chip replaced did so because they ran applications where the
>> error made a difference, not because they thought it was a K00L thing to
>> stick it to the chipmaker.
>> 
>>         Bart Lidofsky
>
>What a bunch of nonsense! Bart the chip didn't add correctly. All
>operations of the CPU can be reduced to addition, complimentation, and
>shifting. Addition is the only purely mathematical thing that it does.
>There is no excuse for making such a mistake. As it turned out the chips
>were replaced; there is justice after all!
>
>Vincent
>-- 
>
>vincent@dmv.com
>
>http://home.dmv.com/~vincent/
>
Much recently we had the situation of some of the Cyrix 166 chips having
problems with Windows NT. They were not discounting the defective chips. So
when I had to buy Cyrix chips, I just waited out for a new release in which
it was fixed.

Apart from the technical questions, the thrust of my message was that a
small number activists on Internet can produce results. Individuals have
achieved great things in the world. After all Internet is just another tool
which can help.

mkr