Jeez... "our sauces"... yeesh, copy-proofing has really slipped in the digital age. "Our sources", it should be. Unless they're talking about making food! They can get it right when talking about Half-Life!
*is now very tempted to Photoshop up a "Half-Life Sauce" bottle...*
I don't know why they're surprised. Any promising looking high-end kit has always been this way. The 9800Pro had shortages early after it's release, the X800 series the same, the X1800's weren't so bad, but they were really delayed. nVidia had similar shortages in the 7800's and 8800's IIRC (although with the 8800's it wasn't very marked...)
lol about the sauce ... I despise websites who don't even double check what they write :?
on the shortage matter, I'll say it depends on where & when & which
where => depending on location availability can be greatly different
which => the first 8800GTX was quite difficult to get
when => the first 8800GTX was quite difficult to get for the first few month
there was even very high prices on ebay & the like (like 900$ or more...)