This is why AMD and NVidia are making ARM chips
Every river starts as a trickle. It will be a long long time until ARM overtakes x86, because compatibility is important for people and businesses. But it can happen. If Intel loses the servers, they lose their high-markup cash cow. AMD's first generation Opteron ARM CPU's aren't that great, but with them now using FinFET the next generation will probably be very respectable. NVidia should also be able to crack the server ARM CPU's too.
The only thing static in the computer world are retired standards. The Wintel dominance can be broken because Intel dug their heels in too deep in the x86 game after the disaster than was Itanium. And because Microsoft kept thinking that buzzwords and know-nothing know-it-all analysts all knew the future better than the actual people who use their products and who quite plainly tell Microsoft what they want.
I don't know the future. But I do know ARM will continue to encroach on Intel's territory. Competition is always a good thing. What was once unthinkable is now very much possible. Vulkan can rival DirectX 12. If more games eschew DirectX 12 for Vulkan, it is not too much of a stretch to envision and ARM gaming machine running Linux. There are still a lot of things that must happen for the Wintel dominance to be broken. It is just now it is no longer unthinkable.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
