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From: mason@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Mason)
Newsgroups: net.micro,net.research,net.cse
Subject: Re: should universities explore the cutting edge?
Message-ID: <3595@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 24-Mar-84 15:20:49 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.3595
Posted: Sat Mar 24 15:20:49 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Mar-84 16:58:20 EST
References: <235@intelca.UUCP>
Organization: University of Toronto/Ryerson Polytechnic Institute
Lines: 30

**** Response to Ken Shoemaker, Intel
From your net address, your built-in biases are fairly obvious (doesn't
of course mean that they are real, just obvious), but, YOU CAN'T BE
SERIOUS!  I guess it depends on what you mean by cutting edge of computer
architecture: if one were relating 16 and 32 bit micros to mainframe
architecture I suggest a pairing something like: 68000 - S/360, 16032 -
VAX, 8086 - DG Nova; and while the Nova solves a lot of peoples problems,
few would claim that its architecture is as powerful as that of a VAX,
or even S/360.  You are right of course that these are all fairly
conventional VonNeuman architectures, but that doesn't mean that they
are equal (or even close) from an architectural viewpoint.

The problem with real cutting edge architecture like transputers,
Illiac IVs, and (maybe) 432s is that the software technology is such
that we can't use them (Occam perhaps to the contrary someday).  This
does not mean we should all go back to PDP-8s, Novas, and their ilk.
We have made real progress down one branch of the computer architecture
tree, and we should recognize that and take advantage of it.

This means that we (particularly in academia) must not view IBM-PCs
and other architectural dinosaurs as other than interim solutions or
power supplies and keyboards for micro boards with modern architectures.
And we must make it clear to holders of purse strings that that is how
we view it.
-- 
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	!utcsrgv!mason		Dave Mason, U. Toronto CSRG
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