We all love competition; it has been in our nature to succeed and outperform our adversaries since time began. In the beginning, it may have been for food or to keep a dominant gene pool but as civilization advanced, these basic needs were trumped by the desire to possess more land or rule a kingdom. The modern day is no different, we still have emperors and kings but their focus has now become the corporate world and they still believe that "he or she who dies with the most toys wins."

In the technology world, mainly home computing, we have seen many kingdoms rise from the sand just to disappear a few short years later. Many were purchased by the competition to discontinue a threat and many failed due to the fact that their pockets were not deep enough to fund their R&D. Nothing has changed since empires sent their armies to foreign lands to expand their realms and instill their beliefs on all.

Desktop computing is beginning to see its territories being conquered, piece by piece. Over the last few years, a new realm has risen from the sand and it is called mobile computing. At first, this realm struggled due to the lack of acceptance, which was mainly based on the price paid to acquire such technology. Over the last two years, we have seen these mobile realms gain acceptance due to the fact that many of the well-established desktop realms are moving forward to conquer new lands. The desktop realms that have made the move are beginning to see rewards while those who have not are beginning to suffer as their land becomes devoured.

With any type of computing, there are two common components that need to be present for without them, all other components become a simple piece of an unfinished puzzle. The two components I am speaking of are a Central Processing Unit (referred to as a CPU) to transform mathematical information into comprehensible data and a Graphics Processing Unit (referred to as GPU) used to render a comprehensible visual image of the data relayed from the CPU.

Anyone familiar with desktop PC computing should be aware that there are presently three empires that hold the hierarchy, Intel, AMD and NVIDIA; Intel, best known for their microprocessors (CPU), NVIDIA, which is most familiar for their graphics processors (GPU), and AMD, which possess both a microprocessor and graphics processor division. Two of these empires (Intel and NVIDIA) have broadened their territories by diversifying into other areas of technology such as supercomputing, ARM (mobile) and even medical technology, while one empire has lagged behind, hoping the prestige they once obtained will raise them from the ashes once again. It is apparent that this once bountiful empire is collapsing due to recent restructuring, which included multiple layoffs and a decline on the stock market.

I, as well as many of you, feel compelled to root for the underdog; it instills that sense of gratification inside of you to see them overcome overwhelming odds to succeed. I guess we could call this the David vs. Goliath syndrome. In recent years I have slowly seen that confident David, evolve into Peter, the boy who cried wolf.