[Info-vax] Chinese Alpha?

[glen herrmannsfeldt]

JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> wrote:
> David Froble wrote:

>> The original 25 year target could not imagine what might 
>> be developed during that time.

> I know that the words "Marketing" and "Digital" should never be used
> together in the same paragraph, but in this case, I think the predicted
> 25 year lifespan was more of a marketing thing than some scientific
> prediction.

Well, about that time S/360 was 25 years old, with extensions to
S/370 and XA/370. The idea that an architecture could last 25 years
was there. 

> Consider that Alpha's competitors were still 32 bits and it 
> was not know how long they would last, whereas Alpha was 
> going to outlast them all because it was already at 64 bits.

VAX was the 32 bit extension of the PDP-11, which they didn't
decide to extend again. Probably the right decsision.

> So the 25 year thing was more of an annoucement that "we're already at
> 64 bits, and our competitors will have to go through some transition to
> 64 bits later on so their architecture may change and disrupt you.

I suppose, but also that, given history, it is harder to see farther
than 25 years ahead.

-- glen