Intel chip design is too complex, says CEO of VMware

VMware CEO Paul Maritz did not have kind words to say about the state of Intel's venerable x86 chip architecture at the TiEcon 2009 conference. Blogger Brooke Crothers over at CNET News came across Maritz's opinion of Intel's flagship processor after chancing on an obscure video of the talk recently made available at TechPulse360.

Maritz criticized the inherent complexity of the x86 instruction set. He said, "Consumer devices came along and there was one problem with the x86 instruction set. All of that complexity in there, accumulated over the years"

Another notable quotes by Maritz would be, "It's all junk silicon," when referring to the redundant instructions that have accumulated over the years to support functions that nobody uses anymore. And what of the x86's suitability for mobile devices? "It's a power hog, it loves electricity, all those [unused] gates are basically consuming power."

Maritz worked at Intel for five years as a software and tools developer before spending another 14 years as a top-level executive at Microsoft before joining VMWare. His remarks are all the more significant given how close VMware has to work with Intel's processors to create its flagship virtualization products.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News
- check out this article at TechPulse 360

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