🚀 go-pugleaf

in Article 87 of comp.sys.transputer:
jan@ceres.neuroinformatik.ruhr-uni-bochum.de (Jan Vorbrueggen) writes

> ... a significant porting effort to the gcc compiler for the DEC
> station (and all those other MIPSbased machines from MIPS, SGI, ...) would be
> required? 
Porting effort IS significant, we do not throw sources at a compiler and
ship the result, we do something called testing and this means that customers
can rely upon the resulting product. Porting also does not necessarily mean 
rewriting code (which is written in ANSI C) but it does necessitate working
out the difference in functionality between implementations of standard
functions. It is not sufficient to port the simulator, the whole toolset 
would need to be ported. We have learnt to trust gcc, we have had some bad 
experiences with DEC libraries and Posix support.

> And don't tell me about quality, manuals etc 
Plainly quality is not an issue to you, it is to INMOS.

> > ... proliferation of a technology is not done by
> > Universities but through volume design ins at major OEMs. 
> Quite right, but how are these decisions made?
Volume design ins are made due to confidence that the right tools exist
to do the job, that timescales can be met, that the technology to use is the
corporate standard and even sometimes that the technology provides what is
needed. Decisions are made by managers (sometimes not technical) and
buyers, not engineers fresh out of University. 

> Why do you think DEC had a 10%oflistprice policy for software for uni
> versities, and now has the CSLG?
DEC sells big expensive machines to Universities on which to run its
big expensive software. If you were to spend an equivalent amount on
INMOS products you could probably negotiate similar reductions on software.
INMOS is predominantly a silicon vendor and matches pricing, discounts
and functionality of silicon competitors such as Intel and Motorola. We
are not in the workstation market and should not be compared to HP, DEC,
IBM or Sun.

Steve

Steve Doyle, Software Marketing, INMOS Ltd   | Tel +44 454 616616
1000 Aztec West                              | 
Almondsbury                                  | UK: steved@inmos.co.uk
Bristol BS12 4SQ, UK                         | US: steved@inmos.com