[Info-vax] Poulson info from Dave Cantor

[Neil Rieck]

>
> I do not see the IA64 as a thouroughbred horse. Seems to me like Intel
> started on the wrong foot with it and it is mired in molasses that makes
> it very hard to move fast and keep up with the rest of the market.
>

I think I need to explain my original comment. Any farmer will tell
you that an (Arabian) thoroughbred horse is only good for one thing:
running a short race on a flat track in pristine conditions. Win 20
races and you are put out to stud. The big problem with here is that
thoroughbred horses are so mental that lesser bred horses are required
to get the mare in-the-mood (because the thoroughbred can't deal with
rejection). Thoroughbred horses are just too muscular for their
spindly legs so even a broken bone will send them off to the glue
factory.

Getting back to computers, IA64 sucking up three 64-bit words (a
bundle) at a time sounded like a good idea when it was proposed. But
while Intel and HP were dorking around with EPIC, RISC chip
development raced forward with stuff like: Superscalar, OoO Execution,
etc.

You might think that an Arabian thoroughbred is what you want for a
computer when a better choice may be a Clydesdale (pulling a beer
wagon; kidding)

NSR