[dr_who]

I wonder if these Taiwanese chips really are a lot slower than the latest Intel ones.

[ContentiousObjector]

The VIA C3 is actually the Centaur C5A and it designed in Austin Texas by Centaur.

It follows a differant design methodology than the Intel and AMD chips, it concentrates on IPC performance instead of FPU performance. infact the VIA C3 or Centaur C5A was never intended to be a desktop processor, but after Cyrix flamed out VIA had little choice but to use the Centaur design for their processor. It was breifly known as the Cyrix III, but after endless bitching from the boys in Texas VIA agreed to rename it the VIA C3

The performance is pretty good, for things like Microsoft Office and the Internet you would never know the differance from an Intel or AMD based system

But for things like games or creative design or video or anything that is FPU intensive the C3 isn't for you.

[goldstategop]

I see this move by Microsoft as an attempt to get into the same market that Lindows is now grabbing a share of --- the low end consumer market served by Walmart. Bill Gates is going mano a mano with Michael Robertson. Whoever can grab the low cost computer share will emerge victorious in the Operating System Wars. Microsoft/FIC vs Lindows/Micron; its hard to see Redmond lining up with a hardware company to woo the Walmart masses if Lindows weren't the newest kid on the block.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Don't know what the difference is when Taiwanese Semiconductor (amongst others) grows the silicon for Intel.