Re: SGI files for chapter 11

In article <op.s9d09nnqzgicya@hyrrokkin>, "Tom Linden" <tom@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:

Reminds one of the russian babushka dolls, with the largest being VAX.
Of course, it didn't have to be that way, as you and others have commented,
all that was needed was a sane ISV policy. Introducing new architectures
is a risky, reckless endeavour. VAX should have been extended to 64 bits.
alpha should never have happened, Itanium should never have happened, not
without bringing all the ISV's along.

VAX should not have been extended to 64 bits. VAX was already too
damn slow. VAX couldn't compete against 32 bit RISC. The decision
to make Alpha 64 bit was along the line of a good idea as long as DEC
knew they had to replace the VAX anyhow.

Jumping from Alpha to IA64 is a much more serious question, as well
as deciding to stay with VAX instead of porting to 386 before DEC
lost all its sales to UNIX RISC and Wintel.

.

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