A Brief History of Chip Hype and Flops

On CNet.com, Brooke Crowthers has a review of some flops in the chip-making world — from IBM, Intel, and AMD — and the hype that surrounded them, which is arguably as interesting as the chips' failures. "First, I have to revisit Intel's Itanium. Simply because it's still around and still missing production target dates. The hype: 'This design philosophy will one day replace RISC and CISC. It is a gateway into the 64-bit future.' ... The reality: Yes, Itanium is still warm, still breathing in the rarefied very-high-end server market — where it does have a limited role. But... it certainly hasn't remade the computer industry."

Comments

Re:Itanium would have worked-AMD screwed it for in

[frdmfghtr]

The problem is software being delivered as binaries. Binary software distribution is holding back progress, making it necessary to continue supporting old kludgy architectures instead of making a clean break to something new and modern.

How would you address the issue of software distribution to home users, who may have neither the time or patience to wait for the compilation process? I'll assume for now that the compiling would be added as part of the installation process.

"Pro" or "power" users that pay for big apps may appreciate the flexibility, but home users, as we all know, want it to "just work."