-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Smith <msmith@PASTEUR.DIALIX.COM.AU>

>Which is probably why Scenix made it a superset of the PIC 5x's.  Smooth
>migrations?
>Just having a second-source should make you happier.

Yo, guys! This is not a second source, unless the world has gone wacky. A
second source is a drop in replacement in every way, including all the
unanticipated behavior of a system during the entire product life cycle. In
particular you have to include the programmed behavior of the personnel that
are actually making the thing; any change in any part of the procedure makes
this part a suitable substitution, maybe, but not a second source. From what
I can tell, my binaries and programming procedures won't transfer directly;
in fact, it seems that I'll have to have a second round of system qual test
to use the Scenix chip as a substitute, along with the second set of
manufacturing and QA procedures.

I don't even understand what the debate is about. The Scenix chip
announcement is interesting, but it doesn't have much overlap with the
Microchip stuff in application space. I can't recall thinking once that I
could use it in place of an existing PIC chip in an existing application; I
might use the speed of the thing to make a new design task easier (and
therefore faster to complete, smaller and more reliable code, etc.) or to do
something I couldn't do with a slower PIC chip, or to enable improvements in
an existing product undergoing redesign, but these possibilities don't fill
my vision of the future.

I think Micro chip must recognize this, an idea confirmed in part by their
public reaction to the Scenix announcement. This isn't the 70's, where there
are these neat new things we don't have any idea how to really use; I
guarantee you that Scenix doesn't want to wait as long as Intel did to see a
market develop. Given that, I don't feel this stuff warrants the full wowie
treatment. It's really just incremental engineering with a valid recognition
of the underlying (so called) paradigm shift that a really fast, dumb chip
makes possible. Which is, really, marketing stuff, and not that flattering
to those of us that have been using the PIC family for years with exactly
the view that Scenix wants to claim as unique. If anyone thinks bright guys
like the Andys haven't been programming virtual peripherals and reaping the
rewards all these years, well, then, you've got something to learn.

'Nuff said -- Tom Rogers