🚀 go-pugleaf

In <1992Nov11.164527.23898@exu.ericsson.se> exuhag@exu.ericsson.se (James Hague) writes:

>fred j mccall writes:
>>
>>Unless, of course, it's the only way to get decent performance out of
>>Windows/NT or Windows 4.0.  Hey, when the 386-25 came out I remember
>>hearing the same sorts of things.  "Hey, nobody needs that much
>>computer on their desktop!"  Well, surprise.  If the hardware exists,
>>someone will make software that soaks up the performance.

>True, this used to be said about 4K Z80 computers, etc.  But look
>at the performance jump from such a machine to a 50 MHz 486 with
>8 megabytes of RAM.  You actually can do quite a lot with a Z80.
>Now think about what the 486 is capable of.  There are very few
>people who need that sort of power.  It is mostly a marketing thing;
>if, say, Geos was in the position that Windows is then people
>wouldn't be so desperate for 486s.  A well-designed machine with
>properly balanced subsystems would be preferrable to a lackluster
>box with a screamingly fast CPU.

True, but what about a well-designed machine with properly balanced
subsystems AND a screamingly fast CPU?  When I got my first 386-25DX
it was SCREAMINGLY fast.  Several people who bought them all agreed
that things were practically instantaneous and that there was no need
for anything faster.  I still have that machine, and it feels
SLUGGISH.  Of course, my main machine is now a 486-50DX with three
times the memory, and (for now) IT feels quite fast.  I do not doubt
that a few years down the road it, too, is going to start to feel
sluggish.  Then I'll be in the market for a 686-66DX or a SPARC10.

Let's face it.  What feels 'fast' is based upon expectations, and as
new software is developed, it tends to be larger, more capable, AND
SLOWER, requiring greater resources to get 'acceptable' performance.  

-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
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Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.