[Info-vax] Chinese Alpha?

[Bob Koehler]

In article <jnq1mq$no$1 at solani.org>, Michael Kraemer <M.Kraemer at gsi.de> writes:
> 
> I don't get it what magical design features the Alpha has, which
> would make it still attractive, even if it had been developed further.
> It's a design more than twenty years old, patents would have expired,
> and even by DEC's exaggerated claims it would reach its predicted
> lifetime in five years from now.
> 

   DEC's claims were based mostly on the state of the art when Alpha was
   new.  By the time alpha was abandoned DEC was putting things into
   Alpha that I don't think DEC had considered when it was new.

   DEC made mistakes, like not realizing how important byte and word
   operations are to some applications.  And later DEC fixed some of
   those mistakes.

   Processors have gotten faster since the day Alpha was abandoned, 
   but the notions folks had about future processors then don't seem to
   have all panned out.  EPIC isn't the dragon slayer.  CISC x86 is
   still competing with RISC.

   When Alpha was built, it was THE fastest processor for many
   applications, and competitive for all.  I'm sure it's competitors
   could make the same claim.  If the advances applie to other
   processors were made to Alpha it would still be competitive.

   In addition to performance, DEC was looking at the doubling of
   address space every 25 years.  That hasn't happened, few applications
   are stretching 64 bits.