Intel's re-marking utility it announced today is likely a diversionary tactic, according to sources close to the company. They referred us to the problem with Pentium IIs having ID numbers as an example of PR retro-engineering. They also took the time out to point that the infamous FDIV problem was only one of nearly 40 problems with the Pentium (585) processor. Intel has a poor record on re-marking. And we reported a program German paper c't wrote nearly eleven months ago, pre-empting Intel, big time. (That story was Program released to counter re-marking) See for example, this story: Intel shrugs shoulders over re-marking Even more surprising was our earlier story: Intel a whited sepulchre on overclocking, which revealed the depths to which Chipzilla had sunk, despite its high moral principles. Still, Intel can't do everything, despite or perhaps because of its Chipzilla size dimensions. The chip Goliath has been deluged with calls and emails since early Saturday after we revealed ID numbers exist on Pentium IIs, as well as Pentium IIIs. Now, despite the fact that Intel has not been interested in re-marking of chips over the last year, as highlighted by c't magazine, Intel has suddenly started taking an interest. Intel's sudden SWAT response to c't is here. The race is now on. Will little Chipzilla beat our Intel architecture engineer to post a PII interrogation? After all, this is the year of the rabbit, also known as the bunney-honey... What interests end users, resellers and distributors much more is the utility which will tell its worldwide users how the Pentium II IDs work. Which we will post RSN, we promise...unless Intel engineers are far slower than the hare... ®