[Info-vax] BOINC for VMS

[Bob Koehler]

In article <jlhsqs$nvr$1 at dont-email.me>, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> writes:
> 
> So all things being equal, perhaps Alpha would be better than itanium, but, all things are 
> not equal.  It's a moot point at this point in time.  There are not and most likely will 
> not be any 35 nanometer Alphas.

   When DEC introduced the Alpha, they discussed the lifetime of the
   PDP-11 and the life time of the VAX, and they hoped to get 25 years
   out of the Alpha.

   That was about 20 years ago and if Alpha was still made, we'd be
   watching for "what's next" as a repalcement for Alpha by now.

   So Alpha's early demise is no longer a large issue.  IA64's demise
   and whether VMS will be ported again is.

   Meanwhile x86 longevity, as well as Intel and AMD's abilities to
   squeeze performance out of what was originally a CISC architecture
   "prooves" traditional concepts of architecture lifetimes by
   exception.  If we can have high performing IA32-64, and still not be
   seeing any real need to go beyond 64 bit on the horizon, we can
   expect IA32-something will be around for a long time.

   Which will keep all those CIOs comfortable, happy, and employed by
   not having to guess which way to go next.