
Intel to Open up Thunderbolt Development This Quarter - ssclafani
http://www.pcworld.com/article/224995/
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zdw
I'm thinking Thunderbolt will be a niche player going forward, similar to
Firewire:

\- Requires extra chip on the logic board (like firewire)

\- Only a single vendor at this point (TI is the only reliably good Firewire
chip vendor, similar to how NEC's USB chips are the best)

\- Doesn't have economies of scale (like firewire)

\- Meets most of the same needs that other competing, cheaper products also
meet (like firewire)

That said, I think firewire is great stuff, and thunderbolt is too. If some of
these things change (say Intel integrates it into their next core logic
chipset, expansion cards are very cheap [less than $50] or a killer 3rd party
use for it comes up) I could see it becoming as standard as Firewire is.

~~~
protomyth
It has similarities, but I see a few differences that I think tip the balance
toward acceptance:

\- USB3 is not integrated into Intel's chipsets

\- Thunderbolt (unlike Firewire) is a display connector

\- The NAB announcements this week give it some momentum

Thunderbolt, to me, is a good fit for portables because it can replace the
expansion slot, display connector, and firewire (high speed data) with one
connector. Intel really is not supporting USB3 that well.

