The Power of the Xilinx FPGA is the reprogrammability of the FPGA. Yes, all FPGAs are reprogrammable but Xilinx has innovated in how one programs BILLIONS of transistors to produce a particular function or design. That is not a trivial task. A decade ago, when FPGAs were considerable smaller, using VHDL or Verilog was reasonable then followed by RTL simulations. This model is no longer effective if one is to beat their competitors in time to market. Think about it, can we really hand code an FPGA in a reasonable amount of time that has billions of transistors? I believe no, not reasonable in QOR, Cost and Schedule. Not that there are not great FPGA designers (is that a double negative?) but the problem lies with what is happening in the industry. Systems that used to contain racks and racks of FPGA boards are reduced down to a set of FPGA boards. The Interface layer collapses, memory, power, system integration time and cost etc… So how did Xilinx get here, being the leader in the FPGA, ASIC Class devices?