econo, glad to hear something other than the black cloud mentality here. Your scenario in the last paragraph has the ring of truth to it, to me at least. Unlike '99/2000 though, OEMs of all sorts know the possibilities and that survival of(even prospering despite) Intel's wrath is possible and worth it. And in its own way, Opteron has the same sort of "enthusiast" support (in different circles) that Athlon had early on. I think the odds for success are better than those for failure.
Paul