looks out the window checking for porcine shapes aloft ...

Dell it seems is about to enter the market with some Opteron units. I don’t see any high flying Porcine, and while it is cold today in Michigan, some town here has not frozen over. So what’s going on? Seems like the simple economics of the market are testing the loyalty principal of manufacturers. You stick with your suppliers as long as possible, as good relationships can often help smooth over rough patches. Good business means good relationships. That is, until these choices and relationships start impacting your ability to sell your product. This may yet prove to be just a negotiating point between Dell and Intel, with Dell demanding better terms. Dell may be annoyed with Intel over the Mac issue. I don’t see Dell selling too many of the cool Mac laptops. Or the cool Mac OSX running atop a Dell laptop… Retribution maybe?