The company got a buzz going a year or two ago simply by being secretive. Of course, the company's plans were no secret to readers of my Inside Track column in PC Magazine back in December, 1998. Unlike other columnists, I don't normally brag about my scoops, but indulge me this time. Hey, some of us did. Ditzel himself appeared on my Silicon Spin TV show and said I was the only one who got it.
Readers take note.
So now we have a blitz of coverage, and I'm still somewhat mystified by it. Hey, it's just a chip company announcing a couple of new chips. It seems that part of the buzz comes from the magic of Linus Torvalds' name and the fact that he joined the Transmeta team. His job was to make a embedded version of Linux for one of the chips. In the short term, not very important at all, though it may pay off over time.