Re: Market research for new PowerPC system

[Guennadi Liakhovetski <g.liakhovetski@gmx.de>]

On Sat, 26 Sep 2009, Konstantinos Margaritis wrote:

> 
> On Sep 26, 2009, at 8:58 PM, Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> > 
> > Ok, just a short comment. In principle I like diversity, competition, etc.
> > And it was somewhat sad when Apple abandoned ppc. But honestly - why
> > should I be buying a ppc desktop system? If we restrict our comparison to
> > Linux, because that's what I'm using, what advantages would a ppc system
> > give me over a comparable in price ix86 system? This is not meant
> > negatively, I just have not followed recent ppc CPUs from the "desktop"
> > range, so, this is a real honest question. Would such a system provide
> > more MIPS per Watt at the same price? Or more periferals? Or some specific
> > hardware blocks unavailable or unsupported om ix86?
> 
> Ok, I remember a few years back when we had Alpha, MIPS, x86, SPARC,
> PowerPC, etc all viable platforms to use and work on. Now it's only x86. I'm sorry,
> I just don't like it. I cannot answer your question, no more than I can answer why
> a car lover buys an old Jaguar antique for the price he could buy a new Audi S8
> for example. Well, ok the analogy is not exactly the same, but you get the point.
> If not, well, the ppc board would just lessen the current gap between x86/ppc in
> favour of the -admittedly very small- ppc desktop/hobbyist market. Nevertheless,
> I'm pretty sure the system would find itself in many ppc developers' desks, just
> because they can't really buy something *new* with those specs, at this price range.
> Ok, perhaps I will fail and just add my name to the list of failed hardware projects.
> Perhaps not. I really don't know if I can convince you if you don't want to be convinced.
> Deliver a super ppc system that beats all x86 systems at the same or better price? No,
> I'm sorry I cannot do that, and I never implied I could. Only IBM/Freescale could do that
> and even then the game would not be in their favour.

Ok, fair enough, as I said, that wasn't meant as a pun. I'd really love to 
see non-x86 desktops _successful_ on the market, and I don't mean just 
ARM-based netbooks, nettops, tablets, etc.:-) So, good luck to you, and I 
really mean it! Interestingly, ppc competes on embedded, competes on 
servers, but practically absent on desktops (apart from a couple of 
hackintosh manufacturers:-)), so, maybe indeed there's still something 
that ppc can offer us that x86 cannot - as a self-contained system, and 
not just a development platform for ppc professionals?

Thanks
Guennadi
---
Guennadi Liakhovetski, Ph.D.
Freelance Open-Source Software Developer
http://www.open-technology.de/