And nowadays, the CPU is becoming less important. It's everything around it -- graphics, video, audio, imaging, telecommunications -- is what makes the difference.
The CPU gets important again when you start multiplying cores.
what exactly is so elegant about a "catch all" platform where the basic processor architecture can change wildly between manufacturers, leading one to require many "flavors" of code simply to cover multiple vendor platforms?
Intel won the CPU wars because of manufacturing, not because of a superior instruction set. They are always able to get a smaller manufacturing process.
When Intel was up against the 68000 they outperformed it at the same process size because of more compact instructions. This happened again with RISC which relied on the suboptimal premise that saving transistors in the processor trumps memory bandwidth and cache efficiency. Fail.
ARM fixed that issue with its thumb instruction set, a 16 bit instruction encoding without which Intel surely would have squashed it too. To be sure, Intel has a few single byte instructions, mainly register inc/decs, but in general its encoding efficiency is roughly similar to ARM thumb. Intel can't win on that point. What Intel has working against it is a huge rambling legacy instruction set it has to support, for example, AAD still has to work properly, which can be pushed out to microcode but that still costs transistors, and how many flavors of of SIMD now? And three different addressing sizes... yes 16 bit addressing still has to work. And real mode too with its implied 4 bit segment register shifts, that's still in there. And all kinds of weirdo cruft from back in the days when Intel had no idea how to design a memory protection model. All that costs a *lot* of transistors, and Intel isn't going to get that monkey off its back with a few rah-rah interviews.
And the question of how Intel is going to keep its margins, and therefore its stock price up while competing with ARM on price is far from answered. Predatory pricing might work, but that's just asking for those nice guys from the DoJ to come sniffing around again.
Whatever agreement that the two companies signed into no doubt was carefully crafted by Redmond's legion of lawyers to protect them from any liability for failure, while assuring them of the greatest benefit from any success.
Microsoft has a strong track record of paying out billions in settlements for its illegal activity. I think Microsoft management regards this as license fees for its profitable operations outside the law.
Quoting you: "I view Windows Phone as sort of a middle ground between the totalitarian iPhone and the free-for-all Android" and you said "I'm forced to use Linux for my day job". These are not the words of an impartial observer as you pretend to be. As everybody knows, the first rule in the astroturfers rule book is "establish your credentials", then of course go on to try to damage your target.
I'm probably very different from most Slashdotters though, in that I don't rabidly hate anything that comes from Microsoft.
In fact you love Microsoft, that tired old monopolist who wants to shove Windows Everywhere down our throats by fair means or foul. You made that abundantly clear.
Microsoft should do a 2 for 1 purchase of Nokia and Rim, then finally they'll be able to make a superior phone that is constructed tough as nails while also having a solid keyboard and touchscreen.
Getting Qt working well on Android and iOS and marketing it as a platform could have been a lot more successful.
They can still do that if they fire Elop. And they can start with vanilla Android to tide them over through the QA period. Getting QT up on Android would take what? Two weeks for somebody who knows what they're doing?
It is now abundantly clear that Nokia needed to get on board with Android. Sure, they would likely end up with less than a majority share but their name recognition, distribution network, engineering and let's admit it, build quality, would ensure a solid, respectable share. Better than nothing, which is what they will have if they don't fire Elop.
The blame for this precipitous decline for this lies firmly with Elop, who acts more in the interest of his former employer than shareholders or employees of Nokia. However, Nokia shareholders like sheep had nothing to say about it and are now well and truly shorn. It is hard to feel a great deal of sympathy for them. Employees, yes that is sad, but where Nokia falls will rise a hundred startups, we have seen this play out many times before.
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A smartphone is in the range of $300-$600. Order of magnitude difference, and that's not because of the processor.
Smartphone prices are overdue for a precipitous drop. And ten times better battery life would be nice.
And nowadays, the CPU is becoming less important. It's everything around it -- graphics, video, audio, imaging, telecommunications -- is what makes the difference.
The CPU gets important again when you start multiplying cores.
Nice post.
what exactly is so elegant about a "catch all" platform where the basic processor architecture can change wildly between manufacturers, leading one to require many "flavors" of code simply to cover multiple vendor platforms?
Transistor efficiency.
The instruction decoder is such an absurdly tiny part of a modern CPU that it really doesn't matter.
My unsupported claim detection meter just pinned itself.
Intel won the CPU wars because of manufacturing, not because of a superior instruction set. They are always able to get a smaller manufacturing process.
When Intel was up against the 68000 they outperformed it at the same process size because of more compact instructions. This happened again with RISC which relied on the suboptimal premise that saving transistors in the processor trumps memory bandwidth and cache efficiency. Fail.
ARM fixed that issue with its thumb instruction set, a 16 bit instruction encoding without which Intel surely would have squashed it too. To be sure, Intel has a few single byte instructions, mainly register inc/decs, but in general its encoding efficiency is roughly similar to ARM thumb. Intel can't win on that point. What Intel has working against it is a huge rambling legacy instruction set it has to support, for example, AAD still has to work properly, which can be pushed out to microcode but that still costs transistors, and how many flavors of of SIMD now? And three different addressing sizes... yes 16 bit addressing still has to work. And real mode too with its implied 4 bit segment register shifts, that's still in there. And all kinds of weirdo cruft from back in the days when Intel had no idea how to design a memory protection model. All that costs a *lot* of transistors, and Intel isn't going to get that monkey off its back with a few rah-rah interviews.
And the question of how Intel is going to keep its margins, and therefore its stock price up while competing with ARM on price is far from answered. Predatory pricing might work, but that's just asking for those nice guys from the DoJ to come sniffing around again.
it's not a deficiency. It's a feature that you and a small number of other people want
USB is a feature that a small number of people want? Why do you bother posting such drivel?
Whatever agreement that the two companies signed into no doubt was carefully crafted by Redmond's legion of lawyers to protect them from any liability for failure, while assuring them of the greatest benefit from any success.
Microsoft has a strong track record of paying out billions in settlements for its illegal activity. I think Microsoft management regards this as license fees for its profitable operations outside the law.
So who forces you to use Linux at work?
There was plenty of both, but tell me - who made the decision to take Elop on...
Somebody in Redmond?
Quoting you: "I view Windows Phone as sort of a middle ground between the totalitarian iPhone and the free-for-all Android" and you said "I'm forced to use Linux for my day job". These are not the words of an impartial observer as you pretend to be. As everybody knows, the first rule in the astroturfers rule book is "establish your credentials", then of course go on to try to damage your target.
there is irrational rabid hate for it.
A sentiment that seems to be shared by the world in general.
You do appear disingenuous you know. Read this blog and tell me if you disagree with the numbers. Which make a liar of you, or a dunce at best.
I'm probably very different from most Slashdotters though, in that I don't rabidly hate anything that comes from Microsoft.
In fact you love Microsoft, that tired old monopolist who wants to shove Windows Everywhere down our throats by fair means or foul. You made that abundantly clear.
whenever the Lumia handsets are reviewed in the mainstream press they are often highly praised
I wonder how much money is changing hands to achieve that effect?
That could equally mean that the shareholders took it as an indication that the new management had no idea how to correct the downwards spiral.
You can take it that way if you like, if you want to appear disingenuous.
Elop has set a world record in management failure.
Management failure? How about criminal malfeasance.
Microsoft should do a 2 for 1 purchase of Nokia and Rim, then finally they'll be able to make a superior phone that is constructed tough as nails while also having a solid keyboard and touchscreen.
And put Android on it. I like the way you think.
Getting Qt working well on Android and iOS and marketing it as a platform could have been a lot more successful.
They can still do that if they fire Elop. And they can start with vanilla Android to tide them over through the QA period. Getting QT up on Android would take what? Two weeks for somebody who knows what they're doing?
It is now abundantly clear that Nokia needed to get on board with Android. Sure, they would likely end up with less than a majority share but their name recognition, distribution network, engineering and let's admit it, build quality, would ensure a solid, respectable share. Better than nothing, which is what they will have if they don't fire Elop.
They brought it on themselves, and have only themselves to blame.
Really? You mean to tell me there was no malfeasance by Elop or under the table dealing by Microsoft?
The MS deal didn't really have anything to do with it
Oh which planet? Note: NOK dropped 20% the day the Microsoft sellout was announced. Burning platforms indeed.
Wait, Google buys Nokia and fires Elop. No, Facebook buys Nokia and fires Elop. No, Ebay buys Nokia and fires Elop.
They could easily choose a different strategy and save the company.
Fire Elop and sue Microsoft?
it was obvious long before Microsoft had anything to do with it, and this certainly isn't Microsoft's fault
That is not clear by any means. A more plausible take on it is that Microsoft preys on the weak.
The blame for this precipitous decline for this lies firmly with Elop, who acts more in the interest of his former employer than shareholders or employees of Nokia. However, Nokia shareholders like sheep had nothing to say about it and are now well and truly shorn. It is hard to feel a great deal of sympathy for them. Employees, yes that is sad, but where Nokia falls will rise a hundred startups, we have seen this play out many times before.