: [SNIP]

: > : There is no "What If" Scenario. Compare the sales figures of
: > : the Itanium to the Alpha at the equivelent points in their
: > : life-cycle.
: >
: > All Itaniun need to is survive past Alpha DEC.

: LOL, that is aiming pretty low considering that it had at least
: $10bn more dollars thrown at it's development and was delivered
: NINE years later.

Let's compare IT stock from those eras, shall we?

: > : > : That ships less units that Alpha, and it's open, although it
: > : > : is single-sourced unlike the Alpha.
: > : >
: > : > PowerPC is single-sourced? IBM and Motorola?
: >
: > : Read again, I was talking about Itanium. I've noticed that
: > : your sidekick has dodged answering this question too.
: >
: > Who is my sidekick?

: Andrew Swallow.

Hadn't noticed...

: >
: > : [SNIP]
: >
: > : > : > I don't doubt that Alpha was a success. But where is it now? It was a
: > : >
: > : > : Err, still being made.
: > : >
: > : > Not by DEC.
: >
: > : Regardless, the Alpha is still being made, despite your
: > : erroneous beliefs to the contrary.
: >
: > HP or Intel?

: It does not matter, it is still being made regardless of
: what you wish for.

I wish for nothing in this regard. I suspect that you take DEC being
defunked much more personally than I do.

: > : [SNIP]
: >
: > : > : You are failing to look at the business side of it, which is
: > : > : where the buck stops.
: > : >
: > : > No doubt bad business decisions were made. treating the microprocessor as
: > : > if it were a toy in the beginning being one of the biggest.
: >
: > : uVAXen were toys compared to the RISC brutes that appeared
: > : in the mid/late-80s. That is why DEC built MIPS based work-
: > : stations.
: >
: > CISC workstations were what they were in their day. All RISC did from a
: > marketing point-of-view was to remove assembly language programming from
: > users of their own machines and allow manufacturers to add another layer

: I have written more assembly for RISCs than CISCs.

When did you start writing assembly language?

: I found
: RISCs a lot easier as far as Assembler goes, YMMV. Compilers
: existed for CISCs too, RISCs just made them far easier to
: write. I suspect that is why Assembler is also easier on
: RISCs.

Are the translators easier to get? I don't even see them offered.

: As far as IA-64 goes, Assembler is a big migraine, I gave
: that a miss. So complex that it practically *requires* a
: compiler. RISCs were never like that.

PDP-11 assembler was good as was the IBM 360/370.

: > of isolation between you and your machine. I miss CISC and think that
: > RISC, despite all the technical advantages, has produced a more sterile
: > world in computing, in which Microsoft thrives. RISCis to the Windows
: > registry what CISC is to Linux configuration files.

: Strongly disagree.

How much does a compiler cost for a Sun SPARC system?

: [SNIP]

: > : "The deadline for AlphaServer final orders is October 27, 2006. Options
: > : and upgrades will be available for another year past that date, until
: > : November 2, 2007."
: >
: > Maybe I can still get a used Alpha from the surplus houses?

: Or you could just buy one from HP. Surplus prices are pretty
: high for Alphas because they are in strong demand. OTOH you
: can get some great Itanic deals...

False, I saw Alpha WS for $100 at the local surplus house.

: > : Itanium's road map ends at the same time. Figure what that
: > : means for HP's high end business.
: >
: > The thing about HP is that like DEC they liked charing a lot of money for
: > their producst but somehow people still pay for HP.

: I suspect that's going to change pretty sharpish as Hurd axes
: the high-end support teams. There are a bunch of unhappy VMS
: types looking for other vendors too.

Maybe VMS needs to be second-sourced?

Eric

: Cheers,
: Rupert