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To: Paul Engel who wrote (89785)	10/10/1999 1:16:00 PM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Paul, I would be very interested in your comments regarding this article.... Sunday October 10 12:29 AM ET Intel Scientist Sees Chip Size, Design Limits - NYT NEW YORK (Reuters) - After 30 years of progress in the quest to make cheaper and faster computers, an Intel researcher said scientists may have reached the limit of their ability to scale down a silicon transistor crucial to the technology revolution, The New York Times reported Saturday. Citing an article in the journal Science, the Times reported that Paul Packan, a scientist with Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, said semiconductor engineers have not found ways around basic physical limits beyond the generation of silicon chips that will begin to appear next year. Packan called the apparent impasse ``the most difficult challenge the semiconductor industry has ever faced.' ``These fundamental issues have not previously limited the scaling of transistors,' Packan wrote in the Sept. 24 issue of Science. ``There are currently no known solutions to these problems.' For more than 30 years, the computer industry has relied on a phenomenon known as Moore's Law, named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, which was the basic force underlying the computer revolution and the rise of the Internet, the Times said. The law held that as transistors were scaled ever smaller -- doubling in capacity about every 18 months -- computer performance rose and the cost of computer technology dropped. It had been assumed that the progress would hold for at least another decade. Packan said the next step along Moore's Law's progression would be to develop transistors that are composed of fewer than 100 atoms -- beyond the ability of semiconductor engineers to control. Executives at Intel cautioned against seeing the problem as insurmountable, adding they were confident answers could be found. But Dennis Allison, a Silicon Valley physicist and computer designer, told the Times, ``The fact that this warning comes from Intel's process group is really significant. This says that they see actual limits.' If the miniaturization process for silicon-based transistors is halted, hopes for continued progress would have to be based on new materials, new transistor designs and advances like molecular computing, the Times reported. Packan's report will be echoed by researchers from the University of Glasgow in a paper to be presented in December at a conference in Washington, the Times reported.

To: Paul Engel who wrote (89785)	10/10/1999 10:16:00 PM
From: Rob Young	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Paul, Condemnation of Sun? Why? They're boring. And yes they are way late with UltraSparc III. But if you haven't noticed a pattern here yet... they are the darling of Sillycone Valley and their fearless leader pokes at the Borg of the Western Provinces much to the delight of the trade press, hence there is an almost "hands off" policy for Sun.. i.e. they can do no wrong. Coppermine, Willamette, Windows 2000 and other products will render Sun a high-end Unix company. Desperation Derby with the Darwin box dropping to under $3000. Unix desktop toast, Unix engineering desktop in danger, Unix retreating to the high-end... And of course other products squeezing propietary Unix desktop, Alpha Linux. Rob