#which cpu
11 messages in this thread
If Intel is such a hot shot with its penti-glitch foating point, why isn't
the Motorola making any news ? I've watched the Computer Chronicles comparing
the Power PC to the Pentium and the Power wins hands down!!! The success of the
Amiga specification was based on the Motorola Architiecture. So where's the
next generation ? Maybe a "blow your mind away" announcement from IBM and Apple
?
Ohhh.. I hope so … 68-risc
Steve
"I hope so … 68-risc"
There won't be a "68-risc". Motorola is fully committed to the PowerPC
architecture. Incidentally, the partnership in terms of the priority of its
partners is IBM-Motorola-Apple, the latter being around primarily because they
were the only mass market computer manufacturer willing to bring the PowerPC to
market at an early date.
Just to keep things in perspective, Motorola has approximately a 7% share of
the CPU market and Intel has about 95%. Microsoft has about 85% of the OS
market with MS-DOS and Windows and Apple has about 6%.
As you saw on Computer Chronicles, the PowerPC is getting plenty of press,
but buyers are not flocking to it. Apple claims it shipped more than a million
PowerPC units in the first year – but they don't explain that their original
projections were for a million PowerPC *systems* and, in fact, they had to
include upgrade cards to make their million claim. That's not really very
encouraging. IBM has been producing a PowerPC workstation for some time (the
PowerPC design is based on IBM RISC architecture), but I have no ideas of what
the numbers are.
Finally, IBM and Apple made their "blow your mind away" announcement several
times in several different ways. But no one's mind seems to have been blown
away or even changed. Apple's market share keeps slipping, although unit sales
are up. And IBM has continuously delaying the market introduction of their
PowerPC mass market units.
In short, the PowerPC story is now old news. It's a very capable CPU, but it
really isn't setting the world on fire.
Jerry
That's some clever math there, Jerry. 100% – 7% = 95%. Maybe you were using a
Pentium? <GD&R>
Mr. Zombie – Warped forever!
Nawwwwwww . . . I was using the same math Apple uses when they compute their
market share. <G> Intel's share is about 90%, not 95%. Sorry about that.
Jerry
Jerry:
>> Motorola has approximately a 7% share of the CPU market and Intel has about
95%.
Since that adds to 102%, I assume Intel bloats their numbers as much as
Microsoft does. 🙂
Wayne
Nawwwww . . . as I explained before, I used the same math Apple uses when
they calculate their market share.
Jerry
Hi Jerry,
>> Just to keep things in perspective, Motorola has approximately a 7% share of
the CPU
No, I don't think so. Intel has 95% (maybe) of the NEW market, i.e. new buyers.
Worldwide, Motorola has (a conservative estimate) 10% of the CPU market,
translating into (again conservative) 3 million users. That's not counting
imbedded systems.
Anyway, it's not the quantity, it's the quality. I think that ultimately the
80xxx architure is
doomed. Sure, they may call it compatible, but there is a window of
compatability. The
8088 is in the dust. The Pentium is a first step away from 80386. The
"Sex"-tium? will
not be compatible with current CPU upgrade sockets.
Yes, you may be right… nothing can stop the onslaught of the commonality of
the industry. Eventually, cpu s will be a commodity, with about as much debate
as your\
electricity bill. That's too bad.
/|
/-| Steve
Steve:
The numbers I quoted came from a Wall St. Journal article a few months back.
I have no idea if they're right or not.
In regard to CPU capability, I think the PowerPC is very slick. But the
Macintosh is the only wide-scale platform it's used on right now and let's face
it, the Mac OS is becoming rapidly antiquidated. What good is all that power if
you can only do one task at a time?
With a very stable Win95 beta in hand, I've been really tearing with
multi-tasking on the Pentium. Apple won't have it's multi-tasking OS until 1996
at best. Too long to wait when there's a lot of work to be done.
When Motorola or IBM comes out with a WinNT port on the PowerPC, I'll more
than likely try it, but I'm staying away from Apple for the time being.
Jerry
"Just to keep things in perspective, Motorola has approximately a 7% share
of the CPU market and Intel has about 95%."
95 + 7 = 102 Then there's AMD and Cyrix and….
No wonder I haven't had the same perspective as others. <G>
However I do agree with the rest of your statement.
> Apple claims it shipped more than a million PowerPC units in the first
> year – but they don't explain that their original projections were for
> a million PowerPC *systems* and, in fact, they had to include upgrade
> cards to make their million claim. That's not really very encouraging.
Tisk, tisk. Apple will easily make their "million systems" by the
one year mark. They claimed they passed one million systems/upgrades
at the _ten_ month mark. They will not cross a year until the 15th of
March. At that time, they will have sold well over a million systems.
With upgrades they will probably be much closer to 1.3 million.
The whole point being, by lumping in upgrades with systems
it gives developers a better idea of how many PowerPC machines are
out there and can help them base decisions on writing software on.
If Apple was trying to "mask" the sytems count they would not have
broken the total into how many cards, vs. how many systems which
is what they did.
Oh well….
Andrew:
Apple is currently reporting 1.2-million PowerPC "systems" shipped, comprised
of complete desktop boxes and upgrade cards. Their original projections of a
million in the first year did not include the upgrade cards or at least that's
the way I understood the claims.
More to the point, fewer than 500 applications have been ported to native
PowerPC code. That's not a whole bunch, which could indicate a lack of
enthusiasm for the PowerPC.
Jerry