Date: Thu, 08 Jul 1999 11:30:07 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: W Gerald Hicks <wghicks@bellsouth.net> Cc: Yann Ramin <atrus@matadore.montereyhigh.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, wghicks@wghicks.bellsouth.net Subject: Re: IA64 Message-ID: <4.2.0.58.19990708112350.0462a810@localhost> In-Reply-To: <199907081714.NAA03921@bellsouth.net> References: <Your message of "Wed, 07 Jul 1999 22:02:52 CDT." <Pine.NEB.3.96.990707213420.27433B-100000@shell-2.enteract.com>
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At 01:14 PM 7/8/99 -0400, W Gerald Hicks wrote: >Yikes! The iAPX432 was seventeen years ago? :-) Yep. Funny how time flies when you're futzing around with software. ;-) >It remains to be seen whether the Merced will be accepted in the >marketplace, even if Intel gets it out the door on time. > >I'm betting against them this time. I'm not. There's too much at stake. AMD is catching up with them, and VIA is threatening their strategy of closing markets by taking over the x86 motherboard and chipset markets. Intel sees Merced as its only chance to outrun the competition. The iAPX 432 was done as a blue-sky project at a time when the company was unexpectedly flush with money. They could afford to dream and pour money into speculative R&D. But this situation is different. Never underestimate Intel when they're truly desperate. Also, the presence of free UNIX will make a difference this time around. It once was difficult to find OS support for alternative processors. Now, with Linux, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, it isn't. In any event, to get back on topic, we should have folks under NDA who enjoy the same terms as the Linux vendors -- who are VERY hot for this processor. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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