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[Richard Pieri]

On Apr 12, 2010, at 12:48 PM, Mark Komarinski wrote:
> 
> Motherboard manufacturers do this too with their PCBs.  You can clearly 
> see spots where chips belong but they aren't there.  Manufacturers 
> probably have the volume to have separate SMT lines and skip some 
> parts.  Is that dishonest as well?

What about Intel's practice of turning "defective" 80486 CPUs into 80486SX CPUs?  Instead of turning chips that failed the math co-processor tests into landfill and passing on the costs to purchasers, the defective chips were sold at a discount with the co-proc disabled.  Intel a) didn't turn them into landfill and b) didn't soak purchasers to cover the manufacturing costs of CPUs they didn't buy.

Admittedly not the same thing but it is an example of total up-front honesty and openness not being the best policy.  Had Intel publicized the fact that it was turning "defects" into perfectly good products then sales would have been almost nonexistent and Intel would have jacked the prices of the next iteration to cover the losses.

--Rich P.