Fundamentals of Business

Miscellaneous thoughts

1. The Intel CPUs are somewhat proprietary and the Microsoft Software is fully proprietary. However, the consumers and business customers don't see this when they buy computers. They select from a variety of fiercely competitive systems that are IBM PC compatible. The suppliers of these systems are captive OEMs of Intel and Microsoft. They are forced to deal with proprietary products, and they shield the end users from most of this humiliation. As a result, the OEMs do most of the work, take most of the heat from users, and receive relatively little of the profits.

If either Intel or Microsoft were foolish enough to eliminate its OEMs, it would be in Apple's position and eventually vulnerable to a competitor willing to play the open architecture game. Their current OEM distribution strategies are downright brilliant. (Note: I discuss the OEM distribution channel and Intel's strategy at greater length in my book The Handbook of Channel Marketing Marketing.

2. Motorola's 68000 architecture was cleaner and technically superior to Intel's 8080 architecture. Unfortunately, it was used in proprietary products (primarily Apple Computers), so its technical merits relative to Intel's products became irrelevant.

In 1995, Motorola gave up its race with Intel to develop increasingly more powerful CPUs. It didn't have the market share, income stream, to continue to fight its uphill battle. Motorola's fig leaf is to make and use the PowerPC. This strategy is probably doomed because it's unlikely that the PowerPC will ever generate a sufficient income stream to keep up with Intel.

Technology assessment

Is the study and evaluation of new technologies. It is based on the conviction that new developments within, and discoveries by, the scientific community are relevant for the world at large rather than just for the scientific experts themselves, and that technological progress can never be free of ethical implications. Also, technology assessment recognizes the fact that scientists normally are not trained ethicists themselves and accordingly ought to be very careful when passing ethical judgment on their own, or their colleagues, new findings, projects, or work in progress.

Technology assessment assumes a global perspective and is future oriented rather than backward-looking or anti-technological.