Craig Barret in 'Les Echos': the PC will be the house's brain

We are going towards the step of the PC, digital brain of houses, said Craig Barret, Intel's CEO, in an interview given to the daily paper Les Echosof March 12th 2001. For the number one of the microprocessor's giant, nobody expected the current crisis which strikes the American industry and which leads to a severe slowdown in PC sales. The PC isn't in a dead end though. Craig Barret thinks that a fourth step is coming. After the PC as a productivity tool, then the multimedia PC and the Internet terminal PC, the stage of the 'PC as the house's brain. Gradually, all the equipment that we have is becoming digital –audio, video, and communication equipment-, the microcomputer seems to be the best to pilot those equipments. It is thanks to it that 64 million Internet users connect to Napster to exchange music! However, these applications need more and more computing power that we provide with our microprocessors.'