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Intel UK compares PIII serial number to car licence plate

First car fatalities in UK make Chipzilla look highly insensitive

100 years ago The oldest UK newspaper, The Observer, published only on Sundays, today quoted an unnamed Intel UK spokesperson as saying: "You have to put licence plates on your car if you want to drive, this development is the electronic extension of that." He or she was driven to say so because a reporter from The Observer was asking about the significance of the "unique" serial number contained in Pentium IIIs (Katmais). But given the occasion, Intel's remarks are likely to offend many people. PCs, after all, do not drive down the roads of Britain, although both Microsoft and Intel would like to see their systems careering like a veritable Jehu. Cars, many people believe, are responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, plus bad and smelly effects on the atmosphere. One hundred years ago (in fact, on February 25th, 1899), a one Major James Richer was being driven down Grove Hill, on Harrow-on-the-Hill, by Edwin Sewell at 25mph. The Daimler was designed to drive only at 14mph, but Sewell, who was a salesman for Daimler, was overclocking the motor to the limit in the hope of good sales. Major Richer was a representative for the well-known Army & Navy Stores. Both men died when the wooden wheels on the wagon collapsed. The Daimler representative and the Major had just had cups of tea at the Kings Head, at the top of the hill. The pub still stands today, and there is a plaque to mark the first car fatality in the UK. On the anniversary, in Harrow, Friends of the Earth held a mock funeral procession to commemorate the first road deaths in Britain. Now Microsoft is being accused of using a similar software system to Intel. See our story: MS ID number systems could track all Windows users. At The Register, we're not sure we want to see cars powered by Wintel...® RegIstroid II Kings ix, 20 "...the driving is like the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously."

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