[Engel-mode: ON] Doper Dan misinforms us:
<<Alpha, (like Itanium, 860/960, and iapx432) used an entirely new instruction set.
That lack of compatibility is what killed it and Intel's two previous attempts at getting away from IBM PC compatible code. >>
I apologize for calling you "Doper Dan" here...but it was unavoidable. What _have_ you been smoking?
* The 432 was introduced in 1981, ahead of the "IBM PC." This makes "getting away from IBM PC compatible code" a strange impossibility. The 432 failed even before there _was_ a market for DOS-compatible machines. The markets were completely different. The IBM PC in 1981-83 had primitive "code" consisting of BASIC built-in to the ROM and some very limited PC-DOS programs. The 432 had a suite of high-end OS functions and Ada as its main development language (Intel was counting on Ada sales to military, avionics, etc. contractors, presumably.) Lotus 1-2-3 was really the first significant reason for businesses to start buying IBM PCs, and it came out around 1983 or so, maybe 1984. The DOS-compatible market did not even come into being until around the time of Compaq's compatible, then Eagle, and so on. The 432 was already failing by this time. Furthermore, the 432 was competing in the nascent workstation and "non-stop" market niche, as the reinvention as BiiN showed. BiiN failed, perhaps for lack of nerve by Intel and Siemens, but not because it wouldn't run Lotus 1-2-3! Jeesh. Get off the crack pipe.
* The 860 and 960 are completely different chips. The 960 was designed as a follow-on to the 432/Gemini/BiiN program (Dave Budde, who sometimes comments here, can say a lot more, as he was one of the main designers) and saw its greatest success as a high-end microcontroller: avionics systems, laser printers, etc. The lack of "DOS compatibility" was unimportant.
You need to understand some history before explaining to us your theory of where Intel went wrong.
Hoping that AMD will pull out of its power dive "one more time" is one thing, but spreading misinformation is quite another.
--Tim May |
