Obviously demob happy at the prospect of a spot of fishing in the Russian countryside, Intel CEO Craig Barrett was in relaxed mode with hacks in Moscow earlier today, accidentally stabbing Microsoft in the back in the process.

"I don't think there will be a big impact to the industry if Microsoft is split up according to the judge's decision," he stated.

The judge's ruling to split Microsoft into an operating system company and a software applications maker "is consistent with the horizontal structure of the computer system", he added.

Chipzilla spin paramedics are no doubt beavering away feverishly at this very moment rewriting the grovelling letter of apology Intel had to send to Dixons management the last time Craig shot his mouth off in public and blamed the retailer for keeping UK PC prices falsely high.

Let's see if we can help:

"Dear Bill,
Everyone here at Intel is really, really sorry for what our CEO said. We really like Microsoft a lot and hope we can still be best friends. In fact, we'd like to be best friends with both Microsofts.

Yours truly, Craig and the boys."

Craig Barrett is 61. ®