Re: [not about] gc-by-area and host uptimes

[Kenneth Forbus <forbus@P.CS.UIUC.EDU>]

	Baloney.  By actual count, 7.2 includes 80% of the available source code
	for non-layered products, as either "basic" or "optional" sources.  The
	cost of those optional sources is pretty nominal, and practically nobody
	is interested in purchasing them.  Of the 20% restricted, some are the
	(unreleased) new scheduler, many are L-machine hardware dependent code,
	and the remaining is Dynamic Windows and NSage.
	
	In 7.3, no sources are restricted.  75% of the sources are "basic", and
	25% are "optional".  Of the optional sources, many are L- and I-machine
	hardware dependent code, the scheduler, DW internals, and NSage.
	
	Categorically claiming we "don't routinely give out sources" hardly
	seems accurate.
	
My bug.  Sorry.  (I'm trapped in the 6.1 world, unfortunately.  Or
will 7.3 actually run faster than 6.1 on 3640s?  So far upgrading
would have slowed me down for most of my machines.)

	Except that there is no guarantee that the IL virtual machine running on
	a particular platform has reasonable performance, so you are forced to
	write programs in the least common denominator in the hopes that they
	will perform well.  The current implementation of CLX is loaded with all
	kinds of hair for just this reason.  I have friends who are banging
	their heads into this wall right now.

Of course.  But as the hardware crank turns, that becomes less and less
important.  If machine family X has their hardware speeding up faster than
machine family Y, which in the long run will have to be mired in low-level
performance hacking?

	Symbolics cannot afford to build chips with state-of-the-art processes,
	since we do not happen to own a chip foundry.  Therefore, we concentrate
	on architectures that attempt to make up for that by being clever.

Why not just punt the hardware biz instead?  
,
	because our small staff and small size (witness Sun) would always allow
	our competitors to inch ahead.  Therefore, we need to concentrate on
	software technology.  In hindsight, not only would I do DW again, but I
	would make its underpinnings more radical, and trade compatibility for
	performance, which is something we did not do in 7.0.
	
They ain't "inching", they are streaking.  Yes, concentrate on software. 
Especially on blindingly fast, wonderfully reliable and flexible stuff.
Forget hardware.  When RISC peaks out in 5, 10, or 20 years, then specialized
architectures will make sense again.  But it just doesn't make sense
right now.