[rescue] your next Solaris machine ??? (Sol/x86 booting on iMac)

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Sat, 15 Apr 2006, Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:

> If Apple wants to get into "server" markets not served by x64, they
> can go with SPARC, which is shipping, today, 8-core systems.

Depending on what you mean by "8-core", IBM's already[0] there.  The
POWER5 MCM houses 4 processors with two cores each, all in a very large
integrated package.

   http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/rd/494/sinha10.jpg

And, unlike Sun's UltraSPARC T1, those aren't reduced-performance cores
targeted at "throughput computing".  Those are full-bore POWER5 cores.

> He has made a decision for his own reasons.  I think that the real
> reasons are not public, and the full reasoning & strategy for the
> quick switch to x86 will only become apparent in late 2007 or so.

I still expect it has a lot to do with TPM and Hollywood-friendliness.
Jobs does have a lot of ties to the movie industry and is in a unique
place to present DRM in a "trendy" fashion.  IBM and Freescale are about
getting work done, not preventing people from using their computers.


[0] And, in fact, beat Sun to market.  That article was submitted for
     publishing fully five months before Sun announced the UltraSPARC T1.
     I was -using- a system built around a multicore POWER5 before Sun
     announced the UltraSPARC T1.
-- 
Jonathan Patschke   )  "Humans that lose the capacity to think become
Elgin, TX          (    creatures whose existence has no value."
USA                 )                      --Schwarzwald, _The_Big_O_