Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 23:10:25 -0600 (CST) From: Jim Bryant <jbryant@unix.tfs.net> To: yura@matrix.binary.net (Yura Socolov) Cc: freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD/Alpha Web page Message-ID: <199801280510.XAA20323@unix.tfs.net> In-Reply-To: <19980127181540.32762@matrix.binary.net> from Yura Socolov at "Jan 27, 98 06:15:40 pm"
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In reply: > > If NT r00l3z, wouldn't a company like Compaq enjoy the advantage of > > being able to manufacture its own CPUs for its workstations and > > servers? > > I thought Digital has sold most of its production facilities to Intel > as part of that lawsuit settlement last fall? Meaning that Compaq hasn't > actually acquired a lot of manufacturing units as part of this deal... negative. intel agreed to manufacture AXPs in a settlement with DEC... The alternative could have bankrupted intel. intel has high-volume mass-production lines. this saves DEC a lot of money. both companies won in a way... DEC sued intel, not vice-versa... > > Wouldn't Compaq also like to have machines running Digital UNIX to > > compete in the UNIX server market, where it has no real presence other > > than SCO right now? > > I would doubt that. Probably it's more appealing to Compaq to be friends > with the M company and their NT, and also with Intel, rather then compete > with them both. So it would be easier for them to say that NT rules the > world, and convince of that all those fortune 500 companies, especially > given the fact that NT already runs on Alphas. Besides, NT certainly beats > any given Unix, right? *g* i think you are completely missing the point of compaq's recent diversification moves. Compaq is attempting to move in the world of business computing, enterprise servers. This is a world almost exclusively run by unix at the enterprise level, and will be for the forseeable future. nt just doesn't stack up. their acquisitions indicate a move away from winblowz and intel, and a move towards unix, and fault tolerance [guardian will remain though, but will impart technology to unix]. DEC and Sequent's move to merge and port DEC unix and Dynix for both AXP and IA-64 platforms underlines this. tandem's moves away from MIPS underlines the need for CPUs that can handle MASSIVE transaction throughput, AXP fits the bill. > >From the pretty extensive coverage of the deal at www.news.com, it looks > to me like Compaq may be using Alpha, but only "until Intel rolls out IA-64 > in 1999". Which sounds logical. DEC is not sitting with their thumbs up their ... ever hear of the 21364? neither have i; but i'm sure it will kick intel's butt again! at the rate of AXP improvement, 1999 may just be the year to expect it. > And even though there are perfect application areas for alphas now, like > visualization and everything, and price/performance of alphas beats any > given Intel chip now, that's all there "until Intel rolls out IA-64 in 1999". > > Even if IA-64 is going to suck, it will all be about marketing and related > areas... well, right now the major utilization of AXP is in enterprise servers, and their market share is expected to increase massively with DECs committment to abandon the VAX archetecture for the AXP. as for marketing, yes it will determine the desktop market for both, the large systems market will be dominated by AXP in a few years, with maybe HP and Sun being the major competitors. Keep in mind that the large systems market is dominated by primarily DEC, HP, Tandem, and IBM currently.... Compaq seems to be on a very sound course. Winblowz has it's place, compaq knows this also. I can say this though, this deal has a potential of delivering the best of both worlds. intel client machines running nt or unix, and highly reliable, fault-tolerant, massive transaction volume, enterprise servers running both unix and guardian, maybe integrating the best features of DEC unix, Dynix, and Guardian into each of the operating systems. using networked filesystems, this could seamlessly integrate into a client environment running intel and nt, while maintaining the performance and reliability of unix and guardian. this may just be the next major evolution of unix. i doubt if it will increase bill's bank account very much if at all, and may actually decrease his chances of taking over the large systems market. jim -- All opinions expressed are mine, if you | "I will not be pushed, stamped, think otherwise, then go jump into turbid | briefed, debriefed, indexed, or radioactive waters and yell WAHOO !!! | numbered!" - #1, "The Prisoner" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Inet: jbryant@tfs.net AX.25: kc5vdj@wv0t.#neks.ks.usa.noam grid: EM28pw voice: KC5VDJ - 6 & 2 Meters AM/FM/SSB, 70cm FM. http://www.tfs.net/~jbryant ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ HF/6M/2M: IC-706-MkII, 2M: HTX-212, 2M: HTX-202, 70cm: HTX-404, Packet: KPC-3+
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