Quote:
Originally posted by mbpark
What's wrong with Itanium now besides the fact it emulates a 32-bit PC at the speed of a Pentium 100, and it's got the most complex compiler ever developed?
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Itanium only runs Pentium software for backwards compatibility. Need we review how pathetic the Apple introduction of PowerPC was as to be missing many development tools because PowerPC could not run development software previously written for 68000 based systems. (Apple development software orignally required minicomputers until some innovative 3rd parties, such as one in Canada, inadvertently solved Apple's myopic software problem).
Itanium was originally to be introduced in the Merced version. But a major architectural flaw (little discussed) delayed Merced by two(?) years. By that time it was too slow to be successful and sold for development and prototype systems. I believe a WSJ article that laid out that history.
Intel has literally consumed the entire processor development groups of both Hewlett Packard and Compaq - intact - for Itanium development projects. Each group was assigned different versons of Itanium. Itanium chips are coming. It was seriously delayed by an architectural problem that occured, ironically, about the same time as an architectural problem happened during P4 development.