[Info-vax] VAX 6000 on Young Sheldon

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 2/12/2023 6:44 PM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
> On 2/12/2023 6:08 PM, Dave Froble wrote:
>> On 2/12/2023 3:14 PM, Steven Schweda wrote:
>>>> The difference in floating point performance between a straight 11/780
>>>> and a Sparcstation I was absolutely staggering. [...]
>>>
>>>    Well, duh.  "absolutely staggering" is how I might describe the _age_
>>> of a VAX-11/780 when the SPARCstation 1 was released (1989).  A decade
>>> later, the SPARCstation 1 might have been less impressive, too.  (As I
>>> recall, it was.)
>>
>> Perhaps cost is an issue?  The cost of a VAX 11/780 back then, even 
>> after 11 years, might still be on one's mind, and the reason it still 
>> might be in use.
> 
> I think you are on to something.
> 
> What did a SPARCstation 1 cost in 1989?
> 
> What did a VAX 780 (let us say maxed out with memory)
> cost in 1979?
> 
> The cost of the VAX 780 may have give expectations of the
> system running for 10-20 years and not the 5 years
> that has become custom for the "cheap" stuff.

Technically the 700 systems were obsolete when the
8000 systems came out mid 80's (and the 8000 systems
were obsolete when the 6000 systems came out late 80's
and early 90's and so on).

But perception and expectation for business life time
is different from technical obsolence.

Arne