There is a fine distinction, that often blurs, between misspresenting the truth and lying, both on a legal and ethical scale. Former U.S President Bill Clinton best illustrated the fine line on a Homeresque level during his alleged "legally accurate" statement that he never had sexual relations with his former intern Monica Lewinsky. This week, there was a huge disparity between what Intel announced and the subsequent noise that Intel finally is jumping on board 64 bit computing.

In fact, many failed to note the context in which Intel announced this week the availability of 64 bit extensions for its x86, 32-bit server chipsets. First, these extensions are actually verbatim to those of AMD's, as Geek.com has pointed out. Second, Intel has sold 64 bit (non x86) processors for years, it has been a failure and IDF did not serve as Intel's "64 bit coming out party."

Did Intel know this rampant spread of misinformation would happen? To say the least, Intel's multi-million dollar PR machine succeeded in generating considerable hype to spread its message that it would assume its role as the 64 bit leader for servers and desktops, although at this time there is only a very small existing market for 64 bit x86 desktop processors, and an even smaller market for 64 bit desktop processors.

Moreover, and of critical importance to Intel and its shareholders (and of considerable non-interest to technology users), Intel's message helped to score a modest short term hit on Wall Street this week, with its share price reaching a high of over $31 a share, before sputtering below $30 a share yesterday.

What does all of this noise really mean for the reseller, IT administrator buyer and gamer? Not a whole lot.