Not Happy Days at Intel

[Worf101]

Hey, I like AMD but I've no real axe to grind with Intel. But obviously everything's not peaches and cream over there. The CEO just read the troops the riot act. I'm not top flight IT exec, but I was a Sgt. in the Combat Engineers and I know an a** chewing when I hear one. All I can say is, you're NOT supposed to let them see you sweat.

<A HREF="http://news.com.com/Intel's+CEO+wants+an+employee+attitude+check/2100-1006_3-5286124.html?tag=nefd.top" target="_new">http://news.com.com/Intel's+CEO+wants+an+employee+attitude+check/2100-1006_3-5286124.html?tag=nefd.top</A>

Later,

Da Worfster

If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Eh. **shrug** It's about time that Intel's employees got smacked around a bit. They've really got to learn to test more before releasing products.

<pre><b><font color=red>"Build a man a fire and he's warm for the rest of the evening.
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Steve Taylor</font color=red></b></pre><p>

 

[Mephistopheles]

A call to arms! That's nice to hear once in a while... Maybe we'll really end up with better products in the long run, eh? 😎

<i><font color=red>You never change the existing reality by fighting it. Instead, create a new model that makes the old one obsolete</font color=red> - Buckminster Fuller </i>

 

[krayzeemunkee]

Makes me wonder what he was doing/thinking the first couple of mess-ups. Kinda odd it took himt his long ot figure that something was going wrong...silly man

-Mac User-

 

[Mephistopheles]

He can't just issue a memo like that at every single thing that goes wrong; everyone has problems.

Plus, consider that he might even have been upset with previous flops, except that we didn't get to know about it.

It's still a long way from being silly, anyway... And I think it's a good idea not to be too soft on those 80,000 employees... after all, intel has all resources anyone could need in order to be a good company...

<i><font color=red>You never change the existing reality by fighting it. Instead, create a new model that makes the old one obsolete</font color=red> - Buckminster Fuller </i>

 

[trooper11]

unfortunately, resources does not equal success as we have seen in other areas

 

[krayzeemunkee]

Well obviously he got fed up this time...after many flops...think about it why would he come to the press now and not the first time he got mad saying he was gonna straighten up his emplaoyees...its very silly

-Mac User-

 

[JJKP77]

hehe. They messed up big letting AMD release its 64 line unchecked.
I love it. LMAO and pointing at silly market dominating intel.

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[P4Man]

I think its a bit lame to blame the "troops" (engineers), when it was most likely management decissons that got them into that trouble in the first place. I do not have any insider information or anything, but I just can't believe those ultra high clocking 5 GHz Prescotts/Tejas where the result of senior mgmt asking engineers to design the most efficient and fast x86 core they could. I strongly suspect they got instructed to add enough blue chrystalls to sell the damn thing.

I have a profound respect for the engineers at work at intel and their abilities, and I have a hunch if intel's management would listen a bit more to them, you'd see more products like the Pentium M and less fiasco's like Prescott/Tejas or even Itanium.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[Worf101]

Actually your post makes a lot of sense. You CAN'T build everything engineer's want you to or you'd have a lot of expensive stuff out there nobody can afford or utilize. You also can't allow management hacks to determine what you're gonna build strictly to boost the quarterly profit margin and their own bonuses. You need a fine balance between far thinking engineer's and profit minded management.

When you get out of balance either way, you're in "trouble with a capital T".

Da Worfster

If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

 

[slvr_phoenix]

You CAN'T build everything engineer's want you to or you'd have a lot of expensive stuff out there nobody can afford or utilize. You also can't allow management hacks to determine what you're gonna build strictly to boost the quarterly profit margin and their own bonuses. You need a fine balance between far thinking engineer's and profit minded management.

Actually, from my experience (as a software engineer who works closely with hardware engineers in a very cutting-edge high-tech industry) most engineers are much more sane in their development than you give them credit for. Most engineers are more concerned with efficiency and simplicity than anything. A million bells and whistles are not making a product efficient. They get in the way.

No, from my experience the blame for product complexity is <b>MARKETING</b>. It is marketing who demands a million (and often <i>useless</i>) bells and whistles in order to make a product look spiffy when simple efficiency just isn't dazzling enough for them, or when they're trying to court specific customers.

Basically as I've seen, whenever a company's decisions are driven by marketing managers the engineers get screwed. (And often in turn the customers because products get rushed.) But whenever a company's decisions are driven by engineering managers products are either 'too boring', or take too long to release because engineers will take the time to work out <i>all</i> of the bugs and optimize as much as possible if you don't pressure them to release something <i>right now</i>.

Intel has shifted from an engineering-driven company to a marketing-driven company. Which was better? On the one hand they had a very slow product release cycle with high premiums on solid products. Now they have a much faster release cycle with low premiums on buggy and/or half-arsed products. I know which one I prefer, but then I'm an engineer. 😛

<pre><b><font color=red>"Build a man a fire and he's warm for the rest of the evening.
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Steve Taylor</font color=red></b></pre><p>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

I have a profound respect for the engineers at work at intel and their abilities, and I have a hunch if intel's management would listen a bit more to them, you'd see more products like the Pentium M and less fiasco's like Prescott/Tejas or even Itanium.

Most definately is it management. Engineers are more than happy to say "Screw the release date. ah heck the anticipating custonmers. We have a problem here and we're going to fix it." Marketing however says "Aww, it's not so bad, mate. We'll put it in a shiny box and if anyone complains we'll just tell them that they can always 'upgrade' to a fixed version later, for a price of course."

In my opinion no business should be driven by marketing. Nor should it be driven by engineering. A business should be 'managed' by an intelligent open-minded and <i>honest</i> <b>MANAGER</b>. Too bad no such animal exists. In the lack of the reality of a <i>good</i> manager, we see what is left in our existence. Sad, no?

<pre><b><font color=red>"Build a man a fire and he's warm for the rest of the evening.
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Steve Taylor</font color=red></b></pre><p>

 

[ChipDeath]

Engineers of the world unite! Rise up against your clueless, Idiotic management! :lol:

Seriously though, it's very very true.... I'm in software development myself, and get irritated with my company selling software that <i>I</i> don't quite view as finished..... But at the same I time I acknowledge that as far as I'm concerned it'll <i>never</i> be finished, as there will always be some room for improvement, somewhere 😱 ......

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[slvr_phoenix]

Engineers of the world unite! Rise up against your clueless, Idiotic management!

I agree! Unfortunately not many others do. Maybe it has something to do with regular paychecks and a dependant family or something. Sheesh! <pre>Wussies...</pre><p>"And all I can do is just pour some tea for two,
and speak my point of view.
But it's not sane.
It's not say - ay - ay - ee - ane." - Blind Melon, No Rain.

Seriously though, it's very very true.... I'm in software development myself, and get irritated with my company selling software that I don't quite view as finished..... But at the same I time I acknowledge that as far as I'm concerned it'll never be finished, as there will always be some room for improvement, somewhere......

<bad accent>Da. It veel never be finished.</bad accent> Speaking of not sane...

Seriously though, I think I've had enough caffeine for the day.

Err ... no. That's not what I meant to say. Strike that. To borrow a phrase from Catwoman, let's try the remix.

Seriously though, there will always be room for <i>improvement</i>, but at least the lines of when something is <i>finished</i> and <i>successfully tested</i> should be pretty definable. Managers that push out unfinished non-tested products should be shot, or at the very least verbally slapped.

Alright. Time for more coffee. Somewhere in the dark rush of my id's gleeful cackle my ego's screams can still be heard. Fortunately I don't have to walk over there all too often. Those screams can really be disturbing. :O

<pre><b><font color=red>"Build a man a fire and he's warm for the rest of the evening.
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Steve Taylor</font color=red></b></pre><p>

 

[addiarmadar]

Bottom line, CEO is pissed since AMD was allowed to release the A64 chip unanswered and he does not want those major OEMs going over to AMD for the chips. Id bet that the engineers delayed the products for a reason but the bottom line is they are loosing marketshare by being behind.

Greedy Management dont care about the why but just wants them released and make $$$$.

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[slvr_phoenix]

What is this 'A64 unanswered' gibberish that I keep hearing anyway? Itanic was 64-bit long before AMD 'answered' that call with the A64.

"Oh, and while the king was looking down, the jester stole his thorny crown." - Don McLean, American Pie

<pre><b><font color=red>"Build a man a fire and he's warm for the rest of the evening.
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Steve Taylor</font color=red></b></pre><p>

 

[addiarmadar]

You mean Intanium. Have you seen the prices on those compared to the a64. Totally different markets there.

Mobile Barton 2500+ @ 2420mhz 11x220 1.7v
Asus A7N8X Dlx 440 FSB
1gb Geil GD pc3500 Dual Channel (2-3-3-6)
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ATI Radeon 9800 Pro to XT(463/795)