Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!pacbell.com!ames!sgi!karsh@trifolium.esd.sgi.com From: karsh@trifolium.esd.sgi.com (Bruce Karsh) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: RISC vs. CISC? No, OS bug executing data... Message-ID: <69658@sgi.sgi.com> Date: 18 Sep 90 22:29:33 GMT References: <26507@mimsy.umd.edu> <3334@bnr-rsc.UUCP> <4077@auspex.auspex.com> Sender: guest@sgi.sgi.com Reply-To: karsh@trifolium.sgi.com (Bruce Karsh) Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA Lines: 18 In article aglew@crhc.uiuc.edu (Andy Glew) writes: >On the other hand, it might be cheaper to replace a chip than to upgrade OS... >:-( What's the smiley for? It really is far easier and faster to replace a socketed chip than to install a new OS release on a UNIX system. A long time ago, it probably was true that software problems were not very expensive to correct after shipment. But now, it's a significant expense. But we still design computer systems on the assumption that there'll be a lot of new OS releases. In any other industry, they wouldn't be called "releases". They'd be "recalls". Bruce Karsh karsh@sgi.com