Then it's not the right chip for your application, and you should choose another one. However, I use Cygnal chips on USB connected data acquisition boards for two reasons. 1.) The chip I use is capable of 25MIPS using a 24MHz crystal, and I need that speed--my only other option would be Dallas chips at that speed. 2.) Whenever I have trouble on a board communicating over the USB, I wouldn't know where to begin with debugging it if it were not for the JTAG interface. Overall, it's not an apples to apples comparison to compare only price, and not included resources... And, yes, I agree that for MANY jobs the $3 derivitive is the better choice, just as the PIC is more appropriate than the $3 derivitive in many cases..., etc
Regards,
Josh