OFF TOPIC: Audio/Modem Riser (AMR)?

[Ed Cogburn <ecogburn@greene.xtn.net>]

	I recently started looking for a new computer and discovered
something that didn't exist last time I got a computer, that being
motherboards with an AMR slot.  I know what the AMR card does:  it
isolates the circuitry for handling analog signals from everything
else.  What I don't know is the impact on modems, so what follows may
be stupid questions.  Will future modems connect to this card and
eliminate internal modems, or will future modems be built into the
motherboard?  What will be the impact on the free software community,
will we be able to "support" this new technology, or will it end up
like the WinModem situation?
	If you're feeling generous with answers :-) then what does this AMR
slot mean for sound cards too?


TIA,

-- 
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." - Voltaire

Ed C.