I just read this good article "Will the real chip standard please stand up?" [1] In a nutshell it states that Intel would have everyone believe that x86 is /the/ industry standards chip, but the author argues that, while it's the pervasive commodity, it's quite proprietary. He goes on to say that the Sparc architecture is a free standard according to IEEE (IEEE 1754-1994). There are 32 bit and 64 bit standards available. My favorite line: "Theoretically, you could download any of the specs, build a chip, put it in a box, and sell it as a system without paying anyone a dime."
This begs the question, why aren't there more chip makers building off this excellent standard? Any other thoughts in the uug about this topic? -Jon D. [1] http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2911230,00.html __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more http://taxes.yahoo.com/ ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://phantom.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
