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ATMEL GETS HUGE

by Tom Cantrell

Start ę Feeling Pretty SLIC ę Memory MIPS ę Making a Connection ę Co(de)signer ę Huge Idea ę Sources and PDF

No doubt the emergence of the Internet as a publishing medium is a big deal. I donęt think it spells the end of paper, but I do see both electronic and print media coexisting with and complementing each other.

Print media remains my favorite for the under-the-hood stuff. It just seems easier to ponder weighty material on a page than on a screen. Perhaps thatęs because print works best for detailed artwork, such as schematics and high-resolution photos that are critical for getting a complicated message across. Paper isnęt going away, at least not until the Wizards come up with a color screen you can roll up and shove in your pocket.

The web does have some compelling advantages. Notably, the ability to deliver software and other intellectual property (not to mention take your money) electronically. Old-timers may remember early efforts by magazines to publish software using barcodes and the like. I seem to recall an especially laughable scheme involving flimsy, paper-backed 45-rpm records you were supposed to try (over and overę) to playback through your cassette interface.

By far, the biggest advantage for the web is itęs much faster and cheaper to squirt bits onto your screen than it is ship them to your front door.

However, from my perspective as both print and online columnist, the reduced latency of the web can lead to interesting time warp effects. I have to be careful not to write something that will appear on the web tomorrow that refers to something I wrote for paper yesterday, which wonęt get printed until the day after tomorrow. Got that?

About the time you read this on the web, my print column entitled "Atmel Gets Tiny" will hit the streets. I actually wrote the words in that article some time ago; and in the meantime, Atmel hasnęt been standing still. Fortunately, thanks to the web, I can deliver my words as fast as they can deliver the chips.

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