THE G4 IS JUST INCREDIBLE, AND HAS MY mouthdrooling
uncontrollably, as I am sure it has everyone else's in the
Mac community (and probably even beyond.)
Twice as fast as the fastest available Pentium!
Wow.
But folks, let’s think of the implications
of this phenomenon, if it continues (as well it might). The
implications are absolutely incredible.
We all know about Moore's Law, originally taken to be:"Chip speeds double every eighteen months."
Nowadays, though, we might take that to apply only
to Pentiums and Pentium-like chips like the Cyrix and AMD:
with PowerPC chips, we seem to be getting a doubling in performance
every twelve months, or even faster!
Just imagine what might happen in about six years' time: The
PowerPC, having started off at roughly the same speed level
as the then-current Pentium, would have increased in speed 2-to-the-power-of-6
times, or 64 times, while the Pentium and its cronies would
have speeded up only 2-to-the-power-of-4 times, or 16 times.
In other words, at the end of six years, the
fastest available PowerPC will be four times as fast
as the fastest available Pentium!
But it gets better: for remember, those six years started, not
yesterday, but around the time the PowerPC came out.
In other words, the end of the 6-year-period
is at hand: only a couple of years, or maybe three more, down
the road!
Now what's so incredible about this, you might ask. Well, folks,
it means that very soon, even under emulation, the Mac
will run Windows faster than any PC!
In other words, in a short time the Mac will be,
not just the fastest personal computer you can buy,
but also the fastest Windows computer you can buy.
And who in heaven's name will buy anything else, then? Except,
of course, those who can't even afford the $1,500 or so the
latest Mac is likely to cost.
And you know the best part? The best part is,
it doesn't even matter whether this Moore's Law disparity
between the Pentium and the PowerPC has a ratio of eighteen-to-twelve.
All that matters is that it be some significant
ratio, and the conclusion is as inevitable as death and taxes!
As long as this trend continues, this spells the
end of the PC, some time down the road. Logically,
mathematically, and inexorably, the "Intel Inside" PC
is doomed.
Unless, of course, Andy Grove takes the risk of starting
to make RISC chips! But given all the money he's devoted
to making CISC ones, isn't that too great a risc for him?
... (not his real name -- but you figured that out already,
right?) ... calls himself a "Thinker", especially about the
future. He thinks that's where he'll be spending the rest
of his life (but who's he kidding, eh? Doesn't he realize
it's always going to be now?)
Most people say to him "You can't be serious" -- and they're
right, he can't. (But then, who can be serious about
the future, seeing as how anything can happen in it, and usually
does ... er, will?)
His best book -- indeed his only book -- is entitled The
Seventh Generation, and its shareware version in Adobe
Acrobat format is available for download from his alter-ego's
web site (under construction right now) at http://cpu2308.adsl.bellglobal.com.
It's all about the next 150 years or so, and where technology
might take us in that amount of time. (Just $5.00 -- cheap!
And well worth it, though he says so himself). Check it out.
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