RE: IA64

[Dave.Voss@fr.coflexip.com]

>> Thomas Weyergraf
>>kirk@colinet.de
>> My Favorite IA64 Opcode-guess ( see arch/ia64/lib/memset.S )
>> "br.ret.spnt.few" - got back from getting beer, did not spend a lot.
   
>As a non-Alpha user (but an aspirant one), I'm curious to know how 
>the 'community' sees IA64? Is it perceived as a threat? Would alpha 
>users be persuaded to switch over easily?
   
As an Alpha user for many years (VMS mostly; just starting on Linux/Alpha), 
when my main commerical application stopped supporting VMS and now works 
only on NT, I requested an NT/Alpha machine (SPECfp be damned; both the 
commerical application and my own applications run 3 times as fast on an 
Alpha as a PIII at the same clock speed, and this is a 21164, not a 21264).

However, I was told by my IS department that MS no longer supports 
NT/Alpha.  If this is true, IA64 is of course a big threat, but not due to 
any technical superiority of the chip (sorry about your next question, but 
I'm not knowledgeable about the IA64 architectural merits), only due to 
marketing.  As the number of Alpha chips and machines decreases (due to the 
absence of the NT market), the prices will rise, causing the number to 
again decrease...
   
>How do the free software compiler-writer people feel about the 
>architecture?
   
>John Leuner