R: Minix 3 vs portability - was Re: Looking for a small fast VAX development machine

[Mazzini Alessandro]

Not to intrude, but apple could also have gone with the serious power cpu,
thus not "needing" to move to x86. As long as there's enough of a push, sw
houses release versions for a different architecture... and power is hardly
a dead end.

-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] Per conto di Mark J. Blair
Inviato: lunedì 22 febbraio 2016 17:04
A: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Oggetto: Re: Minix 3 vs portability - was Re: Looking for a small fast VAX
development machine


> On Feb 22, 2016, at 07:54, Toby Thain <toby at telegraphics.com.au> wrote:
> 
> I don't think the current perceived size of x86/ARM markets will protect
it as effectively as a diversity of targets would. Remember how ubiquitous
SPARC, VAX, 68K were at one time; if you were stranded there, you don't
exist now.

As a case in point, look at apple switching from 68k to PowerPC for their
desktop systems, then again from PowerPC to x86. With overlapping emulation
in both cases, even. Both of those transitions were critical for their
survival and growth.

-- 
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/