Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Pardon my naivete, but why would AMD have to add DRM to compete with Intel?
Immediately, they don't. The problem though, is that AMD doesn't have much market share, thus not a lot of practical say. If content producers start making use of this DRM and enforcing it so that non-DRM enabled mobo's can't use DRM protected content, there's a big problem though. Especially when you consider that one of the big proponents of DRM is microsoft.
If this catches on and they start producing software that can't run on non-DRM hardware - a distinct possibility because intel owns so much of the marketplace - AMD is faced with two choices. Either implement DRM on their processors, or have processors which won't run protected content and software. With their minimal market share, AMD isn't in a position to make demands or to make software/content producers make non-protected content - intel owns so much of the market that any losses due to not being able to run on AMD hardware is almost certainly going to be offset by casual piracy on Intel hardware being dettered. Ends up being a situation of "comply or die sister, it's that simple."
worst case scenario? Sure. But we're talking Intel and Microsoft, not to mention all of hollywood and the RIAA - AMD, despite their benchmarks, just isn't a serious threat.
