Microchip have been helpful, good support, good tools, and moderate
    pricing...granted not the cheapest, not that far away though and I
    can get the projects out the door at a reasonable cost.

I was mostly thinking of the recent conversation where none of the newer
flash chips are going to be available till december, which is hardly
"getting projects out the door" if you're the poor guy who has to deliver in
november...  In fact, it sounds very like the stories I've heard about
motorola...

BillW