9 Apr
2013
9 Apr
'13
12:56 a.m.
On 9-apr-2013 1:06, Dave McGuire wrote:
Alphas were never hard to obtain.
Okay, AlphaPCs, AXPpci and the like were offered to 'lower end'
and consumer markets. But, like I said, for what were they
actually useful and why did nobody end up getting them? I
mean, since they weren't hard to obtain, wouldn't that be
worse then?
Pick up the phone and order one, and it shows up.
I regret to have to inform you that my phone isn't capable of
time traveling yet...
I did it myself, time and time again, through the 90s.
I did see them on offer in computer magazines. But, again,
the aforementioned variety.
From tiny desktops to several-hundred-kilobuck
AltaVista-class
machines with 8GB of RAM (in 1994!), they were all just a phone
call away.
Also a few additional loans and mortgages... (Especially the more
useful and interesting "AlphaStation"/"AlphaServer" systems.)
As far as software...you got UNIX and a C compiler,
and the
net provided the rest.
Have you recently tried to build Tru64 UNIX pkgsrc offerings?
(For instance.) That convenience, although I can't retroactively
check that, is hardly there... (Or, certainly not anymore.)
Digital/Tru64 UNIX saw quite a bit of usage, especially here.
Many companies and government agencies ran VMS and Tru64 UNIX,
but it's sadly all dead now and gone to Windows and Linux.
Life was good. Nobody in their right mind ran Windows
on
Alphas
Guess what those affordable Alphas were only capable of
running... (Hint: It starts with a /W/.)
[T]he "getting work done" part of the
networking world
neverwanted to play in that dirt.
You are forgetting about graphics and post-production now.
Look up things like SOFTIMAGE|3D, mental ray and LightWave
3D, amongst other things. Those enjoyed Windows AXP ports,
Tru64 UNIX (and VMS, needless to say) never did...
They were expensive, but no more so than their
peers.
Well guess what happened with their peers as well?
- MG