the chips...referring to Intel's big problems with delivering 2 GHz P4's. That's the problem with Dell's "Intel's premier distributor" approach -- if Intel screws up, Dell is screwed -- or will have to move quickly.

I'm not sure how much Dell matters anyway. I'd bet that "white box" has a higher market share than Dell. And, in general, I think we're moving away from PC's to networked, embedded computing devices. That's the way I'm thinking, and even the conservative world of factory automation is moving towards networked stuff -- we're just doing a job using an Ethernet-based Galil motion controller, instead of a plug-in PC board.

Tony