[geeks] Dual Xeon vs Dual G4

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Sun, 2 Feb 2003, Yuri K wrote:

> OK, I can appreciate the effects of a slow hot winter day in the life
> of a jackalope hunter. I won't argue with emotional folks east of the
> Rockies. Just plot the installed base percentage and then rethink the
> meaning of 'winning'.

Why do I get the feeling that you don't completely appreciate the
relationship between market share and rate-of-growth?  It's quite
possible to be "behind" in the market in the near-future, and "win" in
the distant future, under the assumption that the status quo doesn't
-worsen-.

Keep in mind also that Apple doesn't have to deal with the end of
IA32's useful like like Microsoft/Intel does (barring some miracle
that causes Itanium v2 to do well).  Apple had plenty of time to
contemplate the move from m68k to PPC, refit the APIs accordingly, and
code a not-too-shabby m68k emulator in ROM.  Intel, on the other hand,
is grasping at straws to find new ways to keep people buying P?
processors, with the only alternative being a relatively unproven 64-bit
CPU that runs an even less-proven version of Windows with limited
backwards compatibility (DOS->NT all over again).

Apple had a hard enough time convincing people (end users and developers
alike) to switch from m68k to PPC, and they made it -easy-.
Microsoft/Intel don't have their ducks in a row, and their userbase
isn't even remotely prepared to make a gigantic jump across the chasm of
incompatibility.

Assuming the status quo doesn't get any worse for Apple, they'll have
64-bit POWER variants in their workstations that are binary-compatible
with the systems they're selling now[0], and the Windows camp will
either have two relatively incompatible hardware platforms to support,
or a very long-in-tooth hardware platform that's still struggling to
figure out how to plug more than 16 devices onto the system bus.

Now, I ask you, which would you be more inclined to buy?

Intel/Microsoft should've fixed all this crap back when the 80386 was
released, but they blew their chance.


[0] Basing this on my experience running 32-bit POWER apps on 64-bit
    POWER CPUs, and Dave's experience running PPC apps on POWER CPUs.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke  *)  "everything i know about animals i learned from
Thorndale, TX      (*   ORA books."                  --alex j avriette