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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cirruslvr who wrote (119230)	11/26/2000 4:58:14 AM
From: Tenchusatsu	Respond to of 186894

Cirrus, <The question I have is how confident are people that software will be recompiled or rewritten for the P4 now rather than later.> We already have evidence that current programs can benefit from recompiles even without SSE or SSE2. So the problem isn't necessarily a lack of software optimized specifically for the Pentium 4. The problem is a lot bigger, namely the lack of optimized software for any architecture, period. So why force the software guys to optimize in the first place? Why not just make processors which does very well on unoptimized code as well as optimized? Because it's a trade-off. In my view, Intel cares about helping software developers get the most performance possible, no matter how much effort it requires. Why improve performance on legacy apps, the majority of which don't need the performance, when you can improve performance on apps which really can use it? <With Intel stating the P4 won't out-ship the PIII until late 2001 or early 2002 (which just happens to be the same time period AMD plans to support SSE2), what incentive do today's developers have to make a transition to P4 optimized software ASAP rather than when the P4 becomes Intel's undisputed volume leader?> Because there is a class of computer users who buy the fastest (and most expensive) technology available. These are the users who will also be the first to upgrade their software to the latest optimized versions. The software which these users require will be the initial target of SSE2-optimization. This includes server apps, workstation apps like 3D Studio Max, and high-end games like Quake III. Not all software developers support the "lowest common denominator" of system configurations, you know. Some actually care about the needs of the top 5% of users out there who want performance at any cost. Tenchusatsu