On the other hand there is something JUST WRONG about the fact that Intel controls so much of our computing infrastructure. With operating systems (at least the ones not vended by Microsoft) able to mask the differences between all manner of hardware (Linux runs on a dozen different platforms from the smallest embedded device to the largest mainframe, and the Apple OS, at least until recently had the potential to do the same). But whenever software gets to the point where the microprocessor is on the verge of becoming a commodity item, Intel is off making no-audit-trail deal that gets everyone locked in again.

Europe will no-doubt waste the money they extort from Intel, but they may get this country’s technology back on a multi-vendor track that will withstand the eventual emergence of non-American competitors that will use Open Source solutions and true commodity hardware to do to Silicon Valley what they have already done to Detroit.