[geeks] For Dave M - Fscking Suits

[Eric Dittman]

> > Oh, and we upgraded to 24 of the 32 processor Wildfire Clusters just in 
> > time for the Q to commit Alpha-cide.  Great visionaries in our IT 
> > department.

Those Wildfires don't stop working just because in the long-
term the Alpha is going away.  The EV7 is still the best
CPU you can buy right now, and OpenVMS clustering is
unmatched by any other operating system (and Tru64 [RIP]
has the best clustering of any Unix).

> We delayed upgrading our Alpha boxes JUST LONG ENOUGH to see the press 
> release; within five minutes we were on the phone to our DECpaq sales droid.
> 
> Now, we're in the process of moving all our stuff from Alpha to Sun/Solaris.
> 
> (apparently the MAINTENANCE COSTS ALONE on *ONE* of the big alphaserver
> boxes was more, per month, than my *salary*... one of the reasons for moving
> stuff to Sun is that we have TONS of Sun spare parts and machines to cannibalize
> if something dies..)

Of course, with the lower performance of the Sparcs you'll need
more of them.  :-)

IMO, the Alpha is the best CPU available now and in the near
future.

Having said that, I had decided to switch from Linux as my
main system to Tru64.  After the decision to kill the Alpha,
I was still going to switch to Tru64, but then with the merger
and the announcement that Tru64 was going to be killed I made
the decision to switch to Solaris.

I am now installing Solaris 8 on my Ultra 2.

> Hopefully I'll be able to scrounge some Storageworks stuff in the process.

Hey, I'm interested in any extras (StorageWorks or Alpha stuff)
you might end up with.
-- 
Eric Dittman
dittman at dittman.net
Check out the DEC Enthusiasts Club at http://www.dittman.net/