One thing I have been thinking about is the whole x86 vs SPARC comment. I don't really think Sun was trying so much to have SPARC compete with x86 as much as compete with IBM's Power Processor platform. IBM produce and alternative to the x86 which not only runs in the same kind of high end Servers that the SPARC runs in as well as being the processor platform of choice for all 3 latest generation games consoles (not to mention Mac once upon a time).
If the world only wants x86 processors then is IBM wasting its time producing the Power PC based Processors? Is the Cell processor a waste of time in a Linux/x86 dominated world? The games industry is the most sensitive to performance and the consoles have the benefit of not worrying about backwards compatibility and all of the big players opted to use Power PC over x86. If the x86 is really so great why would they do that? I think the SPARC processor is a great piece of engineering. For me I am priced out of owning one. I can afford to buy a £5000 Server/Workstation in order to own a SPARC chip (based on the Ultrasparc T2, I know there are cheaper alternatives). I have been wishing the ageing x86 would go the way of Floppy Disks since the 90's but there seems to be no sign of that happening. One of the big promises of the JVM is having the freedom from being bound to one processor architecture. If all apps ran on the JVM (or CLR for that matter) it would be viable to switch processor architecture to something better than the x86. That said Apple have gone through a processor architecture change and proved it is possible to do without ending in disaster. Right now I am interested in the new desktop processors that ARM are working on. Depending on the time scale when they are released I would like to replace my Intel Atom personal webserver with something built around this new ARM processor. Unfortunately I don't think Open Solaris has been ported to ARM meaning I would have to used Linux if I did this. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
