Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!agate!ucbvax!compsci.bristol.ac.uk!chapman
From: chapman@compsci.bristol.ac.uk (Paul Chapman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.transputer
Subject: Re:  Transputer vs. i860
Message-ID: <8907221203.aa07260@kukini.CompSci.Bristol.ac.uk>
Date: 22 Jul 89 11:03:47 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 40

In a recent message Peter Siemon writes :-

>> So - if INMOS looses. I do not care. The idea of parallel processing has
>> not been invented by them. And it might be perfected by someone else!

If you feel so negative about Transputers why are you using them? Or are
you just waiting for something better to come along?

BUT if you are doing something worthwhile shouldn't you be concerned that
your supplier may be in danger of beeing squeezed out of business and
everything you have done becoming obsolete. No doubt anything you have
done can be transfered to another device, but I for one have invested a
great deal of time in Occam and have no desire to rewrite it all.

>> What Craig Davidson (says) is perfectly o.k. But his conclusion is wrong.
>> Obviously INTEL is the better company, has the better product, the better
>> marketing, the better service and the better support.

NO obviously about it. I think Craig's remarks are very much to the point. The
British have a long tradition of developing good ideas and not being able to
capitalise on them and I see no reason for the Transputer to be any different.

The brutal truth is that Our Beloved (?!) Prime Minister's attempts to
Americanise our economy by placing it at the mercy of market forces has not
worked because there is not, and has not been for far too long, the degree of
investment (both in terms of capital and management expertise) that is required
in our industry -- the abysmal under-funding of Inmos by Thorn-EMI is just one
more testimony to that. I have heard more than one person express the view that
Inmos survives despite, rather than because, of the way it is run.

On top of all this, US firms have the advantage of a huge home market on which
to develop their products. The question is whether 1992 will come in time to
save the Transputer!!

Unfortunately there is not much we can do on this net to change Inmos company
policy. However, it would be interesting to hear from those in The Company who
get this stuff, to see what they think -- or is this to contentious to handle
without fear of unemployment !?!

Paul Chapman. (Dept. Computer Science, Bristol University, U.K.)