I've got a case of what can only be called the paper launch-blues. The much-anticipated Intel 875P chipset launched recently, bringing with it support for an 800MHz front side bus and native Serial ATA RAID. My own tests revealed the setup to be up to nine percent faster than a comparably clocked processor running on a 533MHz bus, making it the quickest platform money can buy. But unfortunately, money can't buy it. Shortly after announcing the chipset, an Intel representative contacted me with news that 3GHz chips were being delayed due to an "anomaly found at the last minute."
The idea of announcing an unfinished product isn't new. AMD did it with the Athlon XP 2800+, BitBoys repeatedly announced new technology without an accompanying product, and of course, it took NVIDIA months to get its GeForce FX 5800 Ultra out of the door. Even if delaying the 3GHz Pentium 4 wasn't a marketing move, the fact remains that the processor will be unavailable until further notice. Why are launches of this sort useless to consumers? A paper launch can effectively prevent someone from purchasing a solid product today, in the hopes of something better within a month or so. Those who fell into this trap with the GeForce FX held on for months on end, only to find a competing card was faster when pre-ordered FX's eventually surfaced. It's a damn shame, indeed.