Robert Stead, European marketing director of AMD in Northern Europe, was keen to distance himself from any relationship with Compaq or copper technology, in the future. That much is on the record. But what is off the record is far more interesting. In the last three weeks we have shown slides demonstrating that Alpha promises to scale up to 1.4GHz technology well before Intel can do the same with its Merced processor. Never mind its McKinley platform, alleged to be .13 micron technology. Remember, dear readers, the US FTC forced Intel to fab these Alpha microprocessors. The slides are there, the quotes are there and Compaq is on the record. Where, then, does that leave AMD? Or Intel... Intel claims it has a copper technology but has been very coy about how it will implement it. Can it cross-license it from Loot "Boot" Gerstner's loss making company IBM? And how does NatSemi feel about all of this? Patently, it is a nightmare. Is, then, AMD a minor partner in a Microsoft-Compaq "alliance" which only has a minor part in future copper technology, possibly forged by copper alliances? No one will say. But drawing all of this together, it seems apparent to us, at least, that AMD, in its minor role, is part of a joint Microsoft-Compaq "alliance" to attack Intel. What does the FTC think about this? It's a bit of a muddle, we aver... Is this confusion good for the industry? That's not to say for us either. We leave that sort of decision to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which must surely be connected to the HQ of the United Nations in New York... It, after all, has the say-so on whether roses are placed into guns. ®