Intel, on the other hand, is spruiking its new Viiv technology (www.intel.com/products/viiv). This promises to deliver on-demand digital entertainment via the internet, as well as the ability for families to view, manage and share music, photos and movies. You'll also be able to record your favourite TV shows on a PC running with Viiv. This sounds awfully close to what Microsoft is trying to achieve. Expect some bloodied noses behind the scenes as both technology giants vie for branding dominance in the home entertainment space and the Wintel marriage of convenience begins to disintegrate.

For its part, Intel is moving beyond its "Wintel" alliance with Microsoft because it wants to sell chips that power more than just personal computers.

There's a WinTel (Apple's term for an Intel-standard PC running Windows) architectural rupture coming within the next two to three years. So when you're planning your development process, what do you develop it on?