From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: bwc@borf.com
To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
Subject: Re: [9fans] architectures
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Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 11:07:02 -0400
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I would think that people on this list would all agree that the Intel
IA32 is the canonical example of bad design.  I have long pined for
hardware with ANY SORT of decent architecture.  At one point I even
tossed all my Intel books!  While I can find other processors
here and there, I have reached the conclusion that I'm stuck with
Intel for the foreseeable future.

I write software that I put on hardware to do something useful
for my customers.  I am obligated by conscience to provide the
fastest and least expensive hardware to my customers as I can
find.  I have no other choice but use Intel stuff.  It is
very fast, very cheap and very reliable.  Special purpose
hardware excluded, nothing else comes even close.

So, with a heavy heart, I resigned myself to embracing this nasty
architecture for the sake of my customers, who, thank heavens,
has no knowledge of the awful mess that lies beneath.

Fortunately, information on Intel motherboards has become
more open, and more developers are using Intel hardware
as platforms for doing things other than Windows.  I developed
two products that are now sold by Cisco Systems using off
the shelf Intel stuff: PIX Firewall and LocalDirector.
These products still use Intel Motherboards because it wouldn't
pay Cisco to redesign any of them.

  Brantley Coile