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From: waltrip@capd.jhuapl.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: RISC vs. CISC -- SPECmarks
Message-ID: <1991Apr10.121142.1@capd.jhuapl.edu>
Date: 10 Apr 91 17:11:42 GMT
References: <14483@life.ai.mit.edu> <4753@lectroid.sw.stratus.com> <8lbG1vdl1@cs.psu.edu>
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In article <8lbG1vdl1@cs.psu.edu>, melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) 
writes:
> 
> In article <71367@brunix.UUCP> rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) writes:
	[...material deleted...] 
> The 88K has built in support for multiprocessing too.  Anyway, 4 25MHz
> 68040s are going to about equal one 25MHz R6000(or is it the R4000) 50
> mips.  Thats 50 mips for the R6000 vs. 60 mips(at best, no flames this
> time) for 4 68040s.  Which direction is would be cheaper for NeXT to
> take?
	The MIPS R4000 is the chip selected by the consortium of Microsoft,
	Compaq, DEC, etc., who are proposing to build a standard workstation
	of the future.  Its probably possible for NeXT to leverage off of this
	effort (perhaps join it) as the result could be a cheap-to-produce
	platform.  If Adobe could manage to join and guide them towards a
	Display PostScript display controller, NeXT might be a particular
	beneficiary.  Given a standard platform and a standard OS (OSF/1 or
	OSF/2), then everyone has a common base to apply their peculiar value-
	added vision.  With binary compatibility, the cost of applications
	should be reduced and it should be a more competitive environment with
	the result that we could expect a decrease in applications prices.

	I think this consortium will probably be effective in squeezing out
	the non-players and, for selfish reasons, I would prefer to see NeXT
	become a squeezer rather than a squeezee.  The NeXTstep application
	environment with multi-media support seems like it has a good shot at
	medium term viability and long term prosperity provided that the
	playing is radically altered against them.  This looks like one of
	those "you can't lick them so you'd better join them" situations.

c.f.waltrip

Internet:  <waltrip@capsrv.jhuapl.edu>

Opinions expressed are my own.