While I rail about the inefficiency of academia and the educational process in general, it is precisely this environment that can tolerate and encourage long term research. If Intel and others had started research into this 30 years ago and dedicated resources to it, they may well have come up with the solution years ago. But the power of the dollar likely limited their research horizons to that which could be accomplished in 5 years or less, otherwise how could they justify the expense to their shareholders? Of course the justification is now staring them in the face in the form of a huge wave about to upset their sand chair.
