“Breaking ranks with the powerful “Wintel duopoly,” based on
Intel hardware and Microsoft software, Gateway and America Online
plan to announce on Tuesday that they will use a processor from an
upstart Silicon Valley chip maker and a version of the Linux
operating system in a new Internet home appliance scheduled to go
on sale later this year.“
“The decision is a big victory for the Transmeta Corporation, a
chip design company in Santa Clara, Calif., that has developed a
microprocessor intended to be a low-power and inexpensive
alternative to Intel’s microprocessors.”
“Transmeta, which was founded five years ago by David Ditzel,
the former Sun Microsystems hardware designer, with backing from
George Soros, the financier; Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder;
Deutsche Bank; and others, said last month that it had raised an
additional $88 million in financing from Compaq Computer, Gateway,
Samsung, Sony and a number of Taiwanese manufacturers.”