🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1989Sep16.044013.429@wolves.uucp> ggw@wolves.UUCP (Gregory G. Woodbury) writes:
>In article <22130@cup.portal.com> cliffhanger@cup.portal.com (Cliff C Heyer) writes:
>>
>>>If I could have this processor (88000) in a machine with a decently
>>>fast bus AND at a cost nearly the same, then it would be perfect.
>>>...The VME bus based box would have
>>>cost us THREE times the cost of the co-processor configuration!

NOT TRUE!  Add up *all* of the costs of a PC + co-processor and then check
the price of an AViiON.

>>
>>Fast components simply cost more, and it takes more time to engineer
>>& test fast boards. Its the laws of physics.
>
>	But once they have been designed and tested, then they should
>cost somewhat less to produce and price should ramp down after the
>bus has been around for a while.

Quite true.

I think that DG's AViiON workstations are going to make many people
reevaluate how they want to spend their $$$.  The low
end diskless node is < $8k.  This is probably CHEAPER than a similarly
equipped Compaq or whatever. They use the VME bus, I think.  Onboard
SCSI & ethernet also.

>>
>>There is allegedly some kick-ass hardware out there in 386 AT land
>>via SCSI/ESDI controllers ON BOARD...

...and in workstation land!

>	Yes, they (IBM and DEC - and all the rest, including DG) will
>save the bandwidth and fast i/o for the *big iron* machines AND the
>high-end "workstations".  This is just what the main problem is!  The
>marketoids and management are so concerned in keeping the distinction
>between certain types of machine, and they manipulate the prices in order
>to do so, that they miss the boat.

That is probably a fair statement with respect to IBM and DEC, and is
certainly a well known technique used for many years by IBM, but I think
that it is very unfair to lump little DG in with those other massive
monsters.  One important thing to note.  Unlike IBM and DEC, DG *lost*
money last quarter.  That is a *very* sobering experience for any organization
and I'm sure that DG (as an organization) does *not* feel that they have
the luxury of being able to try to play these marketing games (at least
not right now).  They know that they are going to have to battle their way
into the workstation market and I believe that their very agressive price/
performance demonstrates this.

>	Sorry that this is so long, but this is of extreme interest
>to me and some of my colleagues.

You are not alone.

// rfg