Re: IRIX freeware releases

From: Ivan Rayner (ivanr_at_sgi.com)
Date: 11/30/03 

Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 10:18:55 +0000 (UTC)

Benjamin Gawert <bgawert@gmx.de> wrote:
> Ivan Rayner wrote:
>
>> Ah, now that is an entirely different topic... All companies try
>> things and fail. The PC experience did lead to the Altix which is an
>> impressive machine.
>
> Hmm...I see no reason why the experience SGI had in the x86 market should
> lead to a machine that is based on IA64 and Origin technology.

The drive to support Linux started well before Altix was released.
Lots of work went into Linux for IA32 and low end IA64 machines -- XFS
being the best example.

I don't mean to imply that the Altix was only thought of after the
technical success of porting IRIX features to Linux -- a Intel/Linux
version of the Origin was a goal for some time. However, early success
with Linux on PCs and IA64 workstations certainly helped.

>From a hardware perspective, it was driven by a desire to start taking
greater advantage of commodity parts. I expect our early use of PCs
and IA64 workstations helped cement our relationship with Intel.

Of course there is little relationship between a PC or IA64 workstation
and an Altix wrt. hardware, but from a software point of view, there
are clear ties.

In addition to the technical aspects, many admin and engineering
processes had to evolve to incorporate open source development.

Ivan 

-- 
Ivan Rayner
ivanr@sgi.com