IP: Deep Blue Jr's

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

from TipWorld:
DEEP BLUE JUNIOR?


By now, we've all been shocked by the loss of world chess champion 
Garry Kasparov to Deep Blue II, the IBM supercomputer and chess 
program. But you may be even more shocked to learn that IBM is 
planning to capitalize on the Deep Blue II match victory by releasing 
a new line of PCs called "Deep Blue Junior."


Your Seafood du Jour's IBMers insist that this is "not a joke. We 
intend to announce soon a new line of state-of-the-art Windows PCs 
for home use that build on the marketing success of Deep Blue II."


When the Crustacean asked these folks just what market "Deep Blue 
Junior" would attempt to crack, they said, "The growing home 
computer dilettante market that prides itself on owning the latest and 
greatest hardware, even at high prices."


These "Deep Blue Juniors" are supposed to incorporate Pentium II 
chips, large amounts of RAM, 24X CD-ROM drives, 5GB hard drives, 
and "an enhanced version of the latest commercial chess program--we're 
working on that right now," say the IBMers.


Your Seafood du Jour can't decide if his IBM pals are just pulling his 
claws with this one, but it sure makes for some interesting 
contemplation.