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Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 15:46:58 -0800 From: David Miller <dm0@avana.net> Subject: Compaq / DEC buyout

Oh, shit. Well, it seems as though Compaq has been pulling away from Intel lately (towards AMD), so perhaps this will be a GoodThing(tm), because otherwise DEC might turn out to be like Apple, except to die a much, much slower death.

Had DEC not been bought this is exactly (IMO) what would have happened.

I'm afraid that Intel may know enough now to make a 1GHz pentium, which would probably a ModeratelyBadThing(tm). I'd much prefer DEC to save mankind and lead them into the next millenium.

Unless my info is seriously off DEC is already shipping 500MHz Alpha's and has 1GHz chips in test. DEC historicaly has been way ahead of Intel (say a year or so which in this business is a lot) and I don't see any reason to suspect that to stop. A comparison of base technology between Intel and DEC leads me to believe DEC is ahead a good margin. Intel won because of the price (DEC has historicaly been very expensive) and support of MS and IBM. (remember, nobody ever lost their job for buying IBM)

Yep, but for how much longer? Some elephants never die, and right now it looks like Intel can once again save MicroSoft's OS by hardware (ironically via DEC). NT bloats as the hardware gets faster.

The only question I have is whether MS will continue to produce a HAL for WinNT 5.0 or whatever they call it. That could put a serious crimp in Compaq/DEC and would most definitely spawn a new round of lawsuites. Had you realized that when we break the 1GHz barrier it won't be safe to operate these machines without the cover on them? It'd be like breaking the inter-lock on your microwave. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | The most powerful passion in life is not love or hate, | | but the desire to edit somebody elses words. | | | | Sign in Ed Barsis' office | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage@ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|