From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: tytso@mit.edu (Theodore Ts'o) Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2017 18:28:52 -0500 Subject: [TUHS] Why did PDPs become so popular? In-Reply-To: <20171228160811.GA13474@mcvoy.com> References: <20171228140551.B6F9418C079@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> <20171228160811.GA13474@mcvoy.com> Message-ID: <20171228232852.GC30269@thunk.org> On Thu, Dec 28, 2017 at 08:08:11AM -0800, Larry McVoy wrote: > > I think you're right. The disinterest in marketing and advertising > > (Ken Olsen, and therefore DEC, had a "build it and they will come" > > mentality) was one aspect of the corporate culture. An example of its > > negative impact: When the Alpha EV5 came out, it was several times > > faster than anything else around. > > Got a reference for that performance claim? Wasn't that mid 1990's? > If so, I was heavily into benchmarking and performance work during > that period. If there was a processor that was 2x faster, let alone > several times faster, I would have noticed. > > http://www.bitmover.com/lmbench/lmbench-usenix.pdf "Digital's 21164 Reaches 500 MHz: Alpha Regains Performance Lead, Leaves Pentium Pro in Dust" -- Microprocessor Report July 8, 1996. http://noel.feld.cvut.cz/vyu/scs/alpha/164_500.pdf Looks to me from the article that Alpha was certain participating in the clock speed wars, though. - Ted