If the coming Valentine’s celebrations mark the signing of terms of endearment — sorry, agreement — for Microsoft to take over AMD, would that mark the start of a divorce between Microsoft and Intel?
I like the notion that these marriages are made emotionally and that Intel has fallen under the spell of Steve Jobs, so I feel like a grumpy old man for pouring cold water on the idea. But, if the merger rumour turned out to be true, I would warn AMD board members about treating Microsoft as a faithful wife.
I have been reading Barbara Nielsen’s IT Week column from five years ago, when she watched Microsoft promising to love, honour and obey the UK government. Sweetly cooing, government CIO Andrew Pinder basked in the adoration of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
“We will be using the knowledge gained, together with our experience, to make sure that a greater range of products meet [our] information assurance needs,” Pinder boasted, certain that the partnership was one that meant the UK would be able to specify the direction of Microsoft’s product planning and policy.
As Nielsen pointed out at the time, this was not likely to be the way Bill and Steve saw it; and indeed, she was right.
AMD needs a buyer but if it were Microsoft, would AMD get to decide Microsoft’s operating system strategy? Not likely.
