Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 12:23:39 -0800 From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> To: David Seifert <seifert@sequent.com> Cc: freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD/Alpha Message-ID: <25919.885932619@time.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 27 Jan 1998 11:29:26 PST." <199801271929.LAA25216@eng4.sequent.com>
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> Is this all the FreeBSD'ers see Alpha as, a platform to use
> for getting FreeBSD LP64 clean while waiting for merced, not
> as an end in itself? This makes it sound like FreeBSD is in
> bed with intel?
Yes, FreeBSD *is* in "bed" with Intel in that 100% of its current
installed base is there, what do you want me to say?
Sometimes you have to make decisions based more on marketing reality
than the pursuit of warm technical fuzzies, and I daresay there was
much wailing and gnashing of teeth there at Sequent when you guys
ditched the far more elegant NS32532 architecture in favor of the x86.
Gosh, it almost makes it sound as if Sequent is in bed with Intel now
or something! :-)
> Alpha is faster, better and cheaper than intel today, and
> is very likely to be faster cheaper and better than merced
> when merced finally comes out.
It's not so much where ALPHA is now that worries me, it's where it
will be in 3-5 years. Planning ahead to position yourself where the
market is now would only be like running to the station after the
train had already left, and I want far more conclusive proof than your
simple assertion that:
1. "it will be very likely faster cheaper and better than
merced."
2. That there will even be people making machines for
the commodity market based on it. It's no use having
a brilliant chip if it's only used in backwater applications.
> This is the first big money project I've heard of that depended
> on free software. It says that free software is ready for prime
> time. I see this as a big deal, a serious feather in Linux's cap.
No, it only says that *some* free software is ready for prime time in
a *certain* scenario. Hmmm. You either have a penchant for hyperbole
in your conversational style or you are getting much better
information than the rest of us. :-)
Jordan
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