European Commission Smacks Intel for One Billion Dollars

[oliveira8]

Regardless, every computer guru knows, AMD chips tend to be a bit better than Intel chips....silly companies.

Really? I keep hearing quite the opposite things.

Also, why they are attacking Intel AND NOT VALVE? Those assholes have been pricing us too high for almost half a year in June. Thank God some developers see this and give us lower prices ($20 for Plants vs Zombies in US, we get it for 10?).

Actually Plants vs Zombies on Steam is actually cheaper than at Popcap website.
http://www.popcap.com/games/pvz :20?

http://store.steampowered.com/app/3590/ :10?

Oh shit! Valve aint the Devil!!! Oh no!

P.S:You not forced to buy games on Valve, so stop crying about that every time. On the other hand you almost forced to get an Intel chip, since those AMD chips spend most of their time, thinking if they should work or not...

That's why I said some developers notice that the game is unfair. Did you even read my post? I said that we get to pay only 10 Euro on Steam. Now look at Mass Effect, Far Cry 2 or Fallout 3. Three times more than retails.

Oh, and I'm not forced. But recently, shops have been setting prices to match the Steam ones. TF2 used to be 60 PLN when it was $ on Steam, now it's 80 PLN. 25% more is visible, no?

Oh, and people don't force you to buy Intel, either. You have the right to choose your own chipset.

So wait? Uh thats retarded! So Popcap decided to sell the game cheaper on Steam, but not on their website? And they both use Digital Distribution system! It would make more sense selling for 20? in Steam so they dont need to pay those rights to Valve and shit...

Also funny enough, if you have a Mac and want Popcap games, you need an Intel Chip cause the game wont run!

"Thanks for shopping at PopCap.com! Please note: an Intel Processor is required for Mac versions of Peggle Nights and Plants vs. Zombies."

Also Intel is the only Chipset company that managed to make working Multi-Core processors(Yeah AMD you years late now...gah), that actually work. And Intel Chips are good for any operation you want to do with your PC.

And your shop prices is your own problem. I doubt Valve phoned all of Poland stores and threat them to death to make the retail prices the same as of Steam.

You always have Ebay or Amazon? Shipping to expensive? Well you can always move...

See you have tons of alternatives to Steam. But for chipsets if you want something good, you stuck with Intel and AMD. And AMD ones aren't really that great anymore...

(FO3 requires GFWL, so buying FO3 from Steam and having to suffer Steam and GWFL at the same time, is an horrible experience.)

P.S Still on the chipset thing, in case you didnt read the article Intel actually FORCED you into buying their products in shops, while Valve may foce you to use Steam, a program which no longer means PC death, doesnt force you to buy games from Steam.

 

[Abedeus]

You have the right to choose your own chipset.

That's what the story was all about. Shops were, allegedly, being bribed to ONLY sell you Intel. That's why they got slapped.

I see in your article:

to recommend its chips over those of AMD.

Recommending = forcing onto people? Really?

 

[Asehujiko]

AMD: QQ our chips sell badly, it must be because Intel is messing with the market and not because we produce shitty products so we'll complaint to a commision greatly biased against whoever is the market leader.

I for one, hope Intel gets their appeal.

 

[Abedeus]

lol Mac

You are complaining that a GAME doesn't run on MAC.

Be glad it actually runs, even if you need a specific chipset. A lot of games simply don't run and you have to dual-boot. You chose a non-gaming OS, you live with it.

Also, no Ebay and Amazon in Poland. Normal shops? Sure, but I want to pay with Paypal. They almost never allow that. And with Paypal, I can use my own credit card - I can't pay in some shops with mine without Paypal.

Oh, and if Intel is better and he pays people to RECOMMEND it (not sell nothing but Intel), then what's the problem? I understand why they sued Microsoft, as Internet Explorer IS the worst of the mainstream browsers, and they always give people IE. Even if they don't want it. And they pay for it, it's not like it is for free.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I see in your article:

to recommend its chips over those of AMD.

Recommending = forcing onto people? Really?

Weasel words. You've heard enough politicians speak to recognize them Abedeus. Just like Don Coreleone recommended that Johnny Fontane got a role in The Godfather.
Again, just using that as a metaphor.

 

[Abedeus]

I see in your article:

to recommend its chips over those of AMD.

Recommending = forcing onto people? Really?

Weasel words. You've heard enough politicians speak to recognize them Abedeus. Just like Don Coreleone recommended that Johnny Fontane got a role in The Godfather.
Again, just using that as a metaphor.

I don't think you should use weasel words if they might affect (in this case, pretty severely) the article's content.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I don't think you should use weasel words if they might affect (in this case, pretty severely) the article's content.

Given the legal precedent, I think those are the best words to use in the situation.

 

[oliveira8]

lol Poland sucks and nothing gets shiped into here

Why did you snip the text into Lol Mac?

Amazon.com ships to Poland so quit whining.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_596184_ways?nodeId=596194

And I bet Ebay ships to Poland too...if you find people willing to ship to Poland...

And shit aparently Valve owns Poland, from you posts it seems like that way.

Yeah they might the best ones...but I would actually like to try some ADM chipsets to overclock and burn, without going to a shop and the only thing selling is Intel. Just cause they might do the best chips, doesnt mean they have to be the only people selling.
P.S: Noticed that Amazon ships to the Vatican too...

I see in your article:

to recommend its chips over those of AMD.

Recommending = forcing onto people? Really?

Weasel words. You've heard enough politicians speak to recognize them Abedeus. Just like Don Coreleone recommended that Johnny Fontane got a role in The Godfather.
Again, just using that as a metaphor.

Intelutting Horse heads on your bead since 1968.

 

[karmapolizei]

Also, why they are attacking Intel AND NOT VALVE? Those assholes have been pricing us too high for almost half a year in June. Thank God some developers see this and give us lower prices ($20 for Plants vs Zombies in US, we get it for 10?).

You're kidding, right? You do realize that a company is free to make their prices as they see fit, this isn't antitrust territory.
What is antitrust territory is giving PC manufacturers and large (and by large, I MEAN large) retailers discounts if they don't sell AMD - and, frankly, with 1,5 bn $, Intel got off VERY lightly, it's more or less the minimum penalty the EU could have imposed.

Other than that - SCALE! Nobody cares about Valve up to.

 

[Abedeus]

lol Poland sucks and nothing gets shiped into here

Why did you snip the text into Lol Mac?

Amazon.com ships to Poland so quit whining.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_596184_ways?nodeId=596194

Oh, cool. Good to know that prices are sane (12-15 PLN is pretty standard in Poland for delivery, $3-4 = 9-12 PLN). Then, however, I have 15-26 days for the package to get to Poland. THEN another week or two to get it. Yes, I have waited for my Nintendo DS for two weeks.

Yup, another reason why I don't buy online.

 

[oliveira8]

lol Poland sucks and nothing gets shiped into here

Why did you snip the text into Lol Mac?

Amazon.com ships to Poland so quit whining.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_596184_ways?nodeId=596194

Oh, cool. Good to know that prices are sane (12-15 PLN is pretty standard in Poland for delivery, $3-4 = 9-12 PLN). Then, however, I have 15-26 days for the package to get to Poland. THEN another week or two to get it. Yes, I have waited for my Nintendo DS for two weeks.

Yup, another reason why I don't buy online.

Then move out of the country.

If you think Poland is the target of a massive conspiracy made by Valve to force all Polish people into buying games from Steam...move out of the damn country! Cause thats what people do when they dislike their country.

You made it clear in this thread, that Poland is a shit country to buy video games from any source, just move! You have almost all of Europe open for you. So whats really stoping you?

Get out of Poland go somewhere else. Marry some chick in that country. Get that country citenzenship so you can override your Polish ancestry for ever and be happy, that you can live in a country that has Amazon and low shipping costs!

 

[cobrausn]

From what I read on another site, Intel was 'recommending' their product through the use of financial incentives (volume discounts and payouts) and sought to pay companies to delay the release of AMD-chipped laptops and computers.

In other words, douchebag tactics. A free market doesn't work without competition... not that we actually have a free market, but we try.

 

[The_Prophet]

Regardless, every computer guru knows, AMD chips tend to be a bit better than Intel chips....silly companies.

Yeah, I got my 3Ghz dual core one for 60 euros, and there are weaker intel processors for the same price.

 

[KDR_11k]

You have the right to choose your own chipset.

That's what the story was all about. Shops were, allegedly, being bribed to ONLY sell you Intel. That's why they got slapped.

I see in your article:

to recommend its chips over those of AMD.

Recommending = forcing onto people? Really?

Must be a mistake in the story or something, the concrete tactics included deals that set upper limits (I recall 5% for HP, 0% for Dell) for the number of machines a vendor may sell with AMD chips. Intel's "bonus" to the vendor was a discount (a very steep one IIRC) but in reality any vendor who wants to be able to compete with other vendors needed that discount. Thereby Intel forced vendors to offer fewer AMD-based systems than Intel systems. Since competition is supposed to happen by the merits of the product and not the backroom deals the richer company can make that was a violation of antitrust laws.

 

[Somethingfake]

That picture "No, *lazer* beam"

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

please keep the smugness to yourself.

It looks as if you just seem smug

Sure is great when random strangers claim to know me better than myself while using the internet as a medium for their own anonymity.
Susan, did you really need to do that publicly?

 

[Uncompetative]

You have the right to choose your own chipset.

That's what the story was all about. Shops were, allegedly, being bribed to ONLY sell you Intel. That's why they got slapped.

I'm not a lawyer, but is there a case to be made against the co-conspirators in these 'secret agreements': Dell, Lenovo, etc.?

Really, if you wanted to stop this the EU should look into prosecuting the hardware OEMs too.

 

[Trivun]

please keep the smugness to yourself.

It looks as if you just seem smug

Sure is great when random strangers claim to know me better than myself while using the internet as a medium for their own anonymity.
Susan, did you really need to do that publicly?

It does act as a public warning to you though, and to anyone else, I suppose. Plus, I'm not anonymous on the internet, I'm probably more truthful about myself on the internet than I am to my own flatmates. Plus, Trivun is my actual name, and I'm on Facebook if anyone wants to know about me, so I don't think I really count as 'anonymous'. Except if I'm ever on /b/, unlikely as that is (and yes, I do know Rules 1 and 2, but who really cares?).

 

[Captain Picard]

Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation floating around in this thread regarding the performance of AMD and Intel CPUs.

Right now, Intel has the highest performing CPUs, no matter which way you slice it. Furthermore, they've had the highest performing desktop(notice, I didn't say server) CPUs and platforms for close to three years now, or whenever the Core 2 Duo and Quad processors were released.

You can't measure performance based only on a CPUs GHz number, it's the processor architecture that really matters.