Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!snorkelwacker!spdcc!esegue!johnl
From: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: R6000 PCs?
Message-ID: <1990Jan8.033050.3360@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us>
Date: 8 Jan 90 03:30:50 GMT
References: <3300092@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <3300093@m.cs.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA
Lines: 21

In article <3300093@m.cs.uiuc.edu> nelson@m.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
>I truly believe that the demand for faster and faster PCs will slow down
>  quite a bit in the next few years.

One thing that has remained constant over 40 years of computer history is
predictions that some level of performace is fast enough and that there
wouldn't be demand for something faster.  So far, all such predictions appear
to have been wrong.  I have faith that we software types can piss away
whatever performace the hardware guys can give us.  It's true, a 386 is
overkill for nearly any 1-2-3 spreadsheet, but if you compare 1-2-3 3.0 to
1-2-3 2.x, you'll find that 3.0 is more functional and much slower, and I
expect that 4.0 or the WIMP version or whatever will be slower still.

More seriously, it's pretty clear that the PC industry is moving toward
graphics, networking, and multi-media, each of which individually is a big
cycle sink, and together which can absorb all of the CPU power likely to be
available in the foreseeable future.
-- 
John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 864 9650
johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus|spdcc}!esegue!johnl
"Now, we are all jelly doughnuts."