[Bob Olhsson]

The 56k chip was utterly obsolete ten years ago! There has been a revolution in hardware cost that I think is every bit as profound as the microprocessor was.

An application pulled into hardware doesn't need to be compatible with anything but input and output. Developers can optimize to an unprecedented degree when they don't have a moving target. The result will probably be vastly superior performance for the same price as just today's software applications. It'll also put an end to software piracy which would be an immense cost savings that competition will pass on to the user.