Target Processor

Bill House bhouse@dazsi.com
Tue, 3 Jun 1997 09:26:02 -0700


I see that the PowerPC chip is getting its day in court. <g>  My vote is to
stay with the x86, at least in the first iteration. Why?  I actually have two
reasons:

a) I already have a number of x86 machines. So do most other computer owners.
It would cost me very little to put LispOS on an x86, and if it didn't work,
well, I've got plenty of other uses for the same box.  If LispOS is only
available for the PowerMac, then I might never get around to actually trying it
(speaking as a potential user).

b) the PowerMac is probably less than 5% of the market. If LispOS gets a 1%
penetration into the PowerMac market, which would be lucky, that's still not
enough machines to be more than an interesting oddity. OTOH, if we got 1% of
x86 machines, that's probably close to 1 million users.  With that many users,
you've got an actual industry, where we could all find gainful employment,
doing computing that was not only functional (pun intended), but FUN!

Well, that's how I see it. Selling me on the PPC as a LispOS platform will be
easier than selling non-Lisp programmers on the notion that they should go out
and buy a PowerMac to try out LispOS, so have at it. <g>

Bill House
--
http://www.dazsi.com
The views expressed are mine alone,
unless you agree with me.