I wonder what people would say if a company had launched the 68080 SoC as an ASIC without any prior public discussion (with all the same features as planned for the core of the Vampire 4 standalone except the Amiga AGA backwards compatibility, ~80MHz, AMMX, FPU, 24 bit graphics, 16 bit audio, new registers etc for around $100). Would everybody be clamouring for somebody to start building Amiga compatibles using the chip or would there be people complaining that it's not identical to an existing 680x0 processor?
A company is a serious entity looking for profit, not a hobby project that is done for love, enjoyment, etc.
A company that releases any chip will document it completely, so it can be used to its full potential.
A company that releases any chip will supply all the help its developers might need.
A company will not change its chip features a lot. If an important change is required it will create another chip for this purpose because keeping the compatibility is of supreme importance.
A company will surely posts benchmarks, but will avoid wild claims of world domination.
A company will not leave its PR to its main HW developer who is a guy that lacks the communication skills required for that job.
So a serious company would change the scenario in a huge manner. And this is just a quick list of changes, much more could be gained this way.
