Obvious? Perhaps, but a point worth repeating—a semiconductor offering without sufficient software support is pointless. The boom 90s were fraught with failure from those who under-appreciated the obvious, exhausted their funds, sold their portfolios, and closed their doors. Nowhere is this problem more acutely felt than the programmable-reconfigurable-adaptable device market. Without understanding the underpinnings, this problem promises to prevail into the 21st century. In this article, Stephen Wasson provides an explanation of why software sells silicon success.