Just to join the chorus: it's not a hard problem. Intel intentionally adds code to the executables produced by their compiler so as to limit their performance on non-Intel CPUs. They lost a federal lawsuit filed by the FCC on deceptive practices because they did not inform their customers, who thought they were buying a working compiler, that they were doing this.
Instead of simply removing this code, which serves no purpose other than degrade performance on non-Intel CPUs, they reached an agreement to put legal disclaimers on every web page mentioning their compiler that they reserve the right to do this. But because of the slick legal language of the disclosure, most people get the impression that they are simply failing to make AMD specific optimizations, rather than intentionally preventing non-Intel CPUs from utilizing the optimizations already present in the code.
I think we all agree that at this point Intel's practice is fully legal. Their engineers should feel proud of having built a really solid compiler. But Intel-the-company deserves to be shamed for its slimy underhanded practices, and the engineers should feel a certain amount of revulsion for allowing themselves to be used in this way. Perhaps if they stood up for the obvious right approach, they could help change the company for the better.
Instead of simply removing this code, which serves no purpose other than degrade performance on non-Intel CPUs, they reached an agreement to put legal disclaimers on every web page mentioning their compiler that they reserve the right to do this. But because of the slick legal language of the disclosure, most people get the impression that they are simply failing to make AMD specific optimizations, rather than intentionally preventing non-Intel CPUs from utilizing the optimizations already present in the code.
I think we all agree that at this point Intel's practice is fully legal. Their engineers should feel proud of having built a really solid compiler. But Intel-the-company deserves to be shamed for its slimy underhanded practices, and the engineers should feel a certain amount of revulsion for allowing themselves to be used in this way. Perhaps if they stood up for the obvious right approach, they could help change the company for the better.