John Lettice writes, in The Register . . .

“Intel's shiny new web appliances do indeed shun Windows in favour of Linux, but a closer examination of Intel's strategy makes it clear that this is the least of the headaches Chipzilla is presenting its 'ally' Microsoft with. Aside from building a range of cheap, Intel-branded access devices the company is proposing to challenge Microsoft in a whole range of key areas, and the battlefield is going to be software, not chips.”

“Intel describes its 'Web appliance strategy' as consisting of three components. First of all there are the appliances themselves, intended to be used 'to bring the Internet to new devices in the home,' according to Claude Leglise, general manager of the Intel Home Products Group. These will indeed run Linux on Celeron processors, but considering their nature that's neither here nor there; they're intended to be dependent on remote applications and management capabilities (maybe they're really, ahem, NCs…) so it's perfectly possible to plug in kit based on other hardware and other software.”

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