CompuServe Messages

Sanford – Alphas have stood up to the most rigorous of tests. I believe the 275mhz stand-alone chip is 4-5x speed of P90. Now there is a 325chip and have heard that yet another generation of ultra-fast chip is coming down the pike. The real *HONK* is in the efficiency with which multi-chip configs utilize system resources. I've seen two Alpha boxes, one with 6 chips and another with 8. So, don't start your Alpha fantasies till we are told that MAX will be fully Alpha compatible. Then, and only then would it be acceptable to build a small shrine on milk crates with sacrement candles and a good Unterruptible Power Supply. BTW I read an interesting article about some tech sharing between Microsoft and DEC where even software that has not been optimized for ALPHA RISC will run very well (ALBEIT not as well as sufficiently coded software). They did not put a date on that ambitious goal, but it follows BGates announcement that Microsoft is fully supporting ALPHA technology and believe it to be the power system of choice. GAD! So much hopeful *TEXT* … but then in reality, well, we always keep a grain of salt around for Microsoft Op Sys ambitions. Jeffrey