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Unholy Matrimony? Microsoft and Cray

Posted by timothy on from the sick-of-so-called-supercomputers-running-linux dept.

fetusbear writes with a ZDNet story that says "'Microsoft and Cray are set to unveil on September 16 the Cray CX1, a compact supercomputer running Windows HPC Server 2008. The pair is expected to tout the new offering as "the most affordable supercomputer Cray has ever offered," with pricing starting at $25,000.' Although this would be the lowest cost hardware ever offered by Cray, it would also be the most expensive desktop ever offered by Microsoft."

34 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. What's the frame rate and resolution? by tjstork · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mean, come on, this thing's probably gotta play some pretty good games....

    Let's see Toms Hardware and Anandtech put one of these babies through their paces!

    My question is, how big does your Word document have to be for it to take a second to scroll from the top to the bottom of the document.

    --
    This is my sig.
    1. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by azzy · · Score: 5, Funny

      But will it run Vista?

    2. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by poetmatt · · Score: 2, Funny

      damnit, I knew this would be in the article before I'd get a chance to post it.

      $25,000 pc's ought to be good enough for everyone.

      Meanwhile, I wonder where the performance of this system is in comparison to other linux based systems?

    3. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by Fred_A · · Score: 5, Funny

      Like the linux kernel developers are any better...every OS maker is greedy about increased CPU power. I first ran Linux in 1995 and it isn't that much faster now.

      It would be if you'd upgraded your machine.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    4. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by zerocool^ · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hear it'll play Crysis on Medium.

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      sig?
    5. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Here is a damper on 25K. Symantec and McAfee have both announced a version of Anti Virus package for these babies and they would cost around 75K.

    6. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by jannesha · · Score: 5, Funny

      It would be if you'd upgraded your machine.

      ...what?! But that would reset his uptime!

    7. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by Anarke_Incarnate · · Score: 2, Funny

      I am intrigued. Where is the best "XXX" I can buy?

    8. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by ksd1337 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Pshhhh... That's nothing. I hope it can run gothic99.wad.

    9. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by collinstocks · · Score: 2, Funny

      It would be if you'd upgraded your machine.

      ...what?! But that would reset his uptime!

      $ uptime
        18:51:25 up 13 years, 263 days, 3:39, 3 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

      Looks like he hasn't really been using his computer that much...

    10. Re:What's the frame rate and resolution? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or if you hit the turbo button

  2. The Microsoft Tax by Serenissima · · Score: 4, Funny

    Man, now even with buying a supercomputer we have to pay the Microsoft tax. We should sign a petition for them to sell the computers with Linux on them. Then we can drop the price to $24,900. That's WAY better.

    --
    Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. But light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
  3. Ah, so THIS is what Vista is supposed to run on. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    n/t

  4. hardly news by Tom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oh please. This really isn't "news for nerds". Maybe news for fools, but all of us here have known for months that this would be coming. I mean, what else can you imagine that would run Vista smoothly?

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    1. Re:hardly news by onefriedrice · · Score: 3, Funny

      Ssh. Your silly facts are not welcome here. Why do you want to rain on our MS/Vista-bashing parade, huh?

      --
      This author takes full ownership and responsibility for the unpopular opinions outlined above.
  5. Finally by Wireless+Joe · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'll be able to run Crysis and Prince of Persia at the same time.

  6. Antivirus by tsa · · Score: 5, Funny

    I bet Symantec Antivirus can get it on its knees.

    --

    -- Cheers!

    1. Re:Antivirus by rvw · · Score: 4, Funny

      I bet Symantec Antivirus can get it on its knees.

      In these kind of deals, they start off the other way around!

  7. BSOD by alta · · Score: 3, Funny

    This thing is able to generate the BSOD faster than anything you've EVER imagined.

    --
    Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
    1. Re:BSOD by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Funny

      It comes at you so fast, the BSOD is blue shifted to purple.

    2. Re:BSOD by outriding9800 · · Score: 5, Funny

      They have gone to Plaid!

    3. Re:BSOD by IronChef · · Score: 4, Funny

      I came to this thread for +5 Funnies like I couldn't even imagine.

      I was not disappointed.

  8. Re:Too dinosaurs working together. by kidde_valind · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since the machine in question isn't even a supercomputer, but simply a cluster of blades, I'd say Cray has nothing to worry about.

  9. And yes, here's a couple jokes by Captain+Spam · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone else has probably done the usual "how fast can a Cray show a BSoD?" gags, so all I was left with was:

    • "It looks like you're trying to solve complex multidimensional calculus to model atomic explosions! Need some help?"
    • "Hi, I'm a Mac." "And I'm a PC. And here's my 30-foot-tall friend, Big Cray, The Destroyer of Worlds. Kill, Big Cray, Kill!"
    --
    Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
  10. Re:Non-useless link by bmajik · · Score: 5, Funny

    I got a 503: Unavailable. These guys should get a Cray or something to run their webserver on

    --
    My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
  11. Something funny about big iron by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I've put Linux on both Mainframes and Supercomputers. What's really funny on those systems is the following:

          echo b > /proc/sysrq-trigger

    That's right, you can basically do a "Control-ALT-DEL" and reboot the great big box.

    This really annoys the old farts.

  12. Re:Poor Seymour by haeger · · Score: 2, Funny

    I hear google has accuired his corpe and put coils around it. They plan to use it to power all their new data-havens.

    .haeger

    --
    You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
  13. Windows - finally - just like Unix! by lawman508 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Resistance is futile - you will be assimilated! A final nail in the coffin for traditional Unix. Now, Microsoft scales from tiny devices running in watches, to super-computers! Even changes to Windows 2008 servers allow administrators to run the OS on routers (without a UI, even solitare is removed). The arguments for Unix in any data center are almost gone.

  14. Re:Too dinosaurs working together. by 74nova · · Score: 3, Funny

    what about On a Machine like yours that has the Shift key Randomly Come on?

    --
    use your turn signal! you people act like it's divulging information to the enemy
  15. Re:o_0 by swaq · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's "Hadron". I'm trying not to imagine what a Large Hardon Collider would do...

  16. Re:ummm? by Blimey85 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I got a new computer. Oh yea? What kind? It's the new Cray OMG PONIES!!! It runs Duke Nukem Forever like a mutha!

    I'd sell my left nut to buy one if they named it that, just to be able to say I had one.

    --
    How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
  17. Re:o_0 by David+Gerard · · Score: 2, Funny

    My LARGE HARDON COLLIDER pushes large, energised hardons through a ring repeatedly, faster and faster, as smoothly and tightly as possible, until they clash and spray matter in all directions.

    ... what?

    (Who invented that horribly typo-prone word anyway?)

    --
    http://rocknerd.co.uk
  18. Oh I don't know... by Arcturax · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure I could configure a Mac Pro that costs more than that, and it will run Windows too.

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    --Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
  19. Re:Non-useless link by jez9999 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, give them some time to develop for cutting edge technology, damnit! They can't be expected to redesign their website EVERY decade.

    --
    == Jez ==
    Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.