Re: OT: Intels quickens cadence for new 8086s

bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

thee is only so many tricks you can devise for the x86 boat anchor ...

If the 8086 instruction set is simple enough, it allows chip designed to
streamline the chip and make it go fast.

Had the 8086 instruction set been too complex (as was VAX's), they
wouldn't have been able to move to Pentium III and beyond and the chip
would have died in the late 1990s, clearly replaced by that IA64 thing.

I think IA64 must have been conceived because 8086 engineers were able
to steal Alpha ideas and implement them on 8086 very quickly, after
which, they may have realised that 8086 wouldn't die and IA64 wouldn't
be able to take control of the "industryu standard" market and remain
just a niche product.
.

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