According to this, Microchip wants to buy Atmel (and split up its various
lines, selling some of them to OnSemi) ---
    http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ltdbb
    http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/microchip_along_with_onse.html

Atmel seems uninterested, though. Just as well. I don't think that if
Atmel were bought and parted out that I as a customer would see anything
good as a result...

-- 
   Wim Lewis <w...@hhhh.org>, Seattle, WA, USA. PGP keyID 27F772C1

On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 20:35:31 +0000 (UTC), w...@underhill.hhhh.org (Wim
Lewis) wrote:

>According to this, Microchip wants to buy Atmel (and split up its various
>lines, selling some of them to OnSemi) ---
>    http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ltdbb
>    http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/microchip_along_with_onse.html
>
>Atmel seems uninterested, though. Just as well. I don't think that if
>Atmel were bought and parted out that I as a customer would see anything
>good as a result...

Except that Atmel has been in self-destruction for at least the past
two years.

                                        ...Jim Thompson
-- 
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food

On Oct 2, 1:35=A0pm, w...@underhill.hhhh.org (Wim Lewis) wrote:
> According to this, Microchip wants to buy Atmel (and split up its various
> lines, selling some of them to OnSemi) ---
> =A0 =A0http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ltdbb
> =A0 =A0http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/microchip_along_with_onse=
.html
>
> Atmel seems uninterested, though. Just as well. I don't think that if
> Atmel were bought and parted out that I as a customer would see anything
> good as a result...
>
> --
> =A0 =A0Wim Lewis <w...@hhhh.org>, Seattle, WA, USA. PGP keyID 27F772C1

Don't these people know there is a credit crunch! ;-)

Wim Lewis wrote:
> According to this, Microchip wants to buy Atmel (and split up its various
> lines, selling some of them to OnSemi) ---
>     http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ltdbb
>     http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/microchip_along_with_onse.html
> 
> Atmel seems uninterested, though. Just as well. I don't think that if
> Atmel were bought and parted out that I as a customer would see anything
> good as a result...

- The omission of mention of any  Atmel Roadmaps, suggests this is a 
typical cynical harvesting effort ?

No mention is made of Atmel's CPLDs ?  ( or of Atmel's R&D efforts...)
Does Microchip even know what a CPLD is ?

Seems a strange move for Microchip. Maybe they are simply cashed up, and
see a fire-sale-price, in an industry they know ?
Or, a large Atmel shareholder wants out ?

On-Semi did just buy AMIS, but Microchip have always been
more of a loner.

Is the MIPS32 not getting the traction they hoped, so they need
a side-door to ARM, Cortex, or even AVR32 ?
Maybe Automotive AVR's ?

The ATxmega is an interesting family, tho not yet in small packages.

The AT89LP are nice single-cycle 80C51's with a road map
from 14 to 44+ pins


-jg

"Jim Thompson" <T...@My-Web-Site.com> wrote in
message news:9...@4ax.com...
>
> On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 20:35:31 +0000 (UTC), w...@underhill.hhhh.org (Wim
> Lewis) wrote:
>
> >According to this, Microchip wants to buy Atmel (and split up its various
> >lines, selling some of them to OnSemi) ---
> >    http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ltdbb
> >
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/microchip_along_with_onse.html
> >
> >Atmel seems uninterested, though. Just as well. I don't think that if
> >Atmel were bought and parted out that I as a customer would see anything
> >good as a result...
>
> Except that Atmel has been in self-destruction for at least the past
> two years.

What has Atmel done to self destruct, please explain.

"Wim Lewis" <w...@underhill.hhhh.org> wrote in message
news:gc3baj$rlh$1...@underhill.hhhh.org...
> According to this, Microchip wants to buy Atmel (and split up its various
> lines, selling some of them to OnSemi) ---
>     http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ltdbb
>
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/microchip_along_with_onse.html
>
> Atmel seems uninterested, though. Just as well. I don't think that if
> Atmel were bought and parted out that I as a customer would see anything
> good as a result...
>
> --
>    Wim Lewis <w...@hhhh.org>, Seattle, WA, USA. PGP keyID 27F772C1

Could be a really good deal for both Atmel and Microchip (maybe the
industry).
Atmel needs severe rationalising, yet have superb micro products (eg the
Mega series). Microchip know superbly well how to do -cheap- yet only have
third rate technology (eg the PICs).
We'll know how interested Atmel are when Mchip put their final offer on the
table.

Bob Eld wrote:

> What has Atmel done to self destruct, please explain.

No self destruct, but at least for one of my clients an Atmel field
applications engineer promised that a new chip will be available in samples
at the beginning of 4th quarter (I think it was the AT91SAM9G20), now looks
like it is postponed to 1st quarter 2009, which is not good, because 2nd
quarter 2009 samples of the end-product are planned for tradeshows. But
maybe this is not the fault of Atmel, but of the field applications
engineer, because I can't find a written promise of the date, and better
wait one quarter instead of having a chip with bugs. But if I would have a
say in planning (I'm only a software expert for this project and not
responsible for the hardware), I would plan projects with chips which I
have lying on my table, only.

-- 
Frank Buss, f...@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de

On Oct 2, 6:11=A0pm, Jim Granville <no.s...@designtools.maps.co.nz>
wrote:

> Seems a strange move for Microchip. Maybe they are simply cashed up, and
> see a fire-sale-price, in an industry they know ?

One can only hope that if this acquisition did in fact come to pass,
that uChip would phase out (read: burn at the stake) all parts based
on its frankly fucked-up legacy 8-ish-bit architectures. Budding EEs
would then no longer be poisoned. Dijkstra might as well have written
about the PIC architecture as about BASIC when he said "It is
practically impossible to teach good programming style to students
that have had prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they
are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration".

Wim Lewis wrote:

> According to this, Microchip wants to buy Atmel (and split up its various
> lines, selling some of them to OnSemi) ---
>     http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ltdbb
>     http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/microchip_along_with_onse.html
>
> Atmel seems uninterested, though. Just as well. I don't think that if
> Atmel were bought and parted out that I as a customer would see anything
> good as a result...

Couldn't agree more !

Graham

On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 14:56:31 -0700, "Bob Eld" <n...@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
>"Jim Thompson" <T...@My-Web-Site.com> wrote in
>message news:9...@4ax.com...
>>
>> On Thu, 2 Oct 2008 20:35:31 +0000 (UTC), w...@underhill.hhhh.org (Wim
>> Lewis) wrote:
>>
>> >According to this, Microchip wants to buy Atmel (and split up its various
>> >lines, selling some of them to OnSemi) ---
>> >    http://preview.tinyurl.com/4ltdbb
>> >
>http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/10/microchip_along_with_onse.html
>> >
>> >Atmel seems uninterested, though. Just as well. I don't think that if
>> >Atmel were bought and parted out that I as a customer would see anything
>> >good as a result...
>>
>> Except that Atmel has been in self-destruction for at least the past
>> two years.
>
>What has Atmel done to self destruct, please explain.
>
>

Most of the engineering in Colorado Springs is gone.

                                        ...Jim Thompson
-- 
| James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |
             
 I love to cook with wine     Sometimes I even put it in the food