> <i>Because all PCs ran Windows on top of Intel chips, there was no differentiation, and prices dropped.</i><p>Umm, no. PCs ran Windows on top of <i>expensive</i> Intel chips with little competition.<p>The lack of differentiation caused the prices <i>of much of the other stuff that goes into a PC</i> to drop.<p>And ironically, that other crap, like network cards and whatever, going into PC's, <i>is</i> differentiated.<p>That doesn't help because it's not differentiated in a way that the user cares about.<p>If processors were differentiated they way network cards, keyboards or mice are differentiated, it wouldn't make a difference, except making PC's even cheaper.