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Apple Nearly Moved to SPARC

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the we-that-woulda-been-interesting dept.

taskforce writes "Sun Microsystems Co-Founder Bill Joy claims that Apple nearly moved to Sun's SPARC chips instead of IBM's PPC platform, back in the mid-1990s. From the article: "We got very close to having Apple use Sparc. That almost happened," Joy said at a panel discussion featuring reminiscences by Sun's four cofounders at the Computer History Museum. An account of his entire presentation can be found on Cnet."

8 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Fine dining by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 5, Funny
    Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy had to be wined and dined at a Silicon Valley McDonald's before he gave up his reluctance to help launch the workstation maker in 1982
    History does not record which of the many fine vintages available at McDonald's was selected on this illustrious occasion.
    1. Re:Fine dining by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 4, Funny

      So that explains the "Happy Meal Ethernet" driver for Linux on SPARC systems....

      --
      READY.
      PRINT ""+-0
  2. almost ?!?!? by TTL0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    almost only counts in horseshoes and handgrenades.

    --
    Sanity is the trademark of a weak mind. -- Mark Harrold
  3. Alternative Headline by Bloater · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sun Microsystems Boasts "We're not quite good enough."

  4. Isn't that... by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Isn't that kinda like "I almost got laid"?

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:Isn't that... by aztektum · · Score: 3, Funny

      In their last meeting, Apple reps. were rumored to have consoled them by saying, "Don't worry, it happens to a lot of chip makers."

      --
      :: aztek ::
      No sig for you!!
  5. obligatory George Carlin quote by Laebshade · · Score: 3, Funny

    "here's a phrase that apparently the airlines simply made up: near miss. Bullshit, my friend. It's a near hit! A collision is a near miss." - Airline Announcements, George Carlin

  6. Re:Had the workstation vendors worked together. by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Indeed, the combined talents of the Alpha crew from DEC, with the PA-RISC developers from HP, the SPARC group from Sun, those behind the MIPS at SGI and MIPS Technologies, and the PPC people from IBM, for instance, could have come up with a CPU that completely trumped what Intel was putting out at the time.

    Hey, this broth isn't tasty enough! Better bring in a few more cooks...