The trend in standard processor boards is truly an example of the tail wagging the dog. Consumer demand for locking down their PCs to make them slower, more vulnerable to viruses, more expensive, and less capable, is not high. And consumers includes both home computer purchasers and business computer purchasers. What I expect the vendors will discover is that given the choice between a high end system that loses 10% of its processor cycles to some guardian of digital IP rights, and a slightly lower end system that actually runs as fast, uses less power, and is cheaper, their customers will wander off.
Suppose you are a data center manager and you have the choice of boards using an American designed processor that comes with a trusted computing module and 200MB bios that act together to restrict your OS and app choice and to give you a huge burden in license management for things you don’t want or need, or a Chinese or Indian board that is faster, cheaper, more power frugal, and just runs your software?
Suppose you are a home computer user and the standard computer you can get requires you to use one of two possible operating systems and is constantly on the net sending out your private information to who-knows-where, or you can get a computer that you actually own for less money?