4 Jun
2013
4 Jun
'13
12:40 p.m.
On 4 June 2013 19:23, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
On 06/04/2013 01:32 PM, Liam Proven wrote:
OK, good. That's exactly the direction I wanted you to go. So, my next
question is: what if (or more to the point,when) cheap PC hardware
delivers the same features & performance that SPARC and POWER do for
servers now?
On 4 June 2013 17:10, Dave McGuire <mcguire at
neurotica.com> wrote:
...which is where they belong. Sun *workstations* aren't needed anymore
because cheap PeeCee hardware actually has usable graphics now. They didn't
back then. They didn't "go up against Intel" at all...they owned that
market, because of graphics capabilities, and when cheap PC hardware could do
it, it did. Of course. But why I said what I said above,
out of exasperation, is that
you call architectures that are currently developed, sold, and used, and have
been for decades, with no end in sight, "failures". That's insane.
They went up against Intel. They used to come in a wide variety of
machines: low-end to high-end desktop, laptop, small server, big
server.
They don't any more. Now they are high-end or nothing. Be careful; that "niche" is where a lot of
heavy lifting gets done.
Yes indeed. It's turning into a commodity market, which tends to mean
lowest-common-denominator kit.
We'll
see what happens in 5Y, and I suspect (and hope) that you and I will be there
to discuss it, but those machines have been there for a very long time, and I
don't see them going anywhere.
Not overnight, no. But I foresee gradual shrinkage. A slow death, just
like Itanium.
And then right at the end...
Well, PowerPC Macs didn't look dead a month before their plug was
pulled, did they? Alpha didn't, either.
Ok, I understand your point. I don't agree with
your predictions for the
future (similar predictions have usually turned out to be incorrect), and I
definitely don't agree with your definition of "failed". (in fact, and I
honestly mean no offense or attack by this, I think that definition is ludicrous)
That's perfectly fine with me. :?)
--
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