__/ [ Larry Qualig ] on Tuesday 21 March 2006 14:59 \__
>
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6051800.html
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Sun Microsystems plans to release on Tuesday the underlying design of
>> | its UltraSparc T1 "Niagara" processor under the terms of the General
>> | Public License.
>> `----
>
>
> Interesting. I haven't followed the SPARC that closely over the last
> several years but at one time it was a consorted effort involving
> Fujitsu, Hitachi, etc. Seems that either they are no longer involved
> with SPARC (and it belongs 100% to Sun) or they are also agreeing with
> the decision.
Think about it this way: with all this re-use (GPL will force to make
available the product), development will strive to be cost-effective. Think
about all this R&D, which Intel and AMD currently expend large budgets on.
Smaller brands like Fujitsu and Hitachi could hop off the ground overnight,
given some decent starting point/s. The winner is of course the customer. If
my memory does not betray me, an Intel chip costs 29 US dollars to
manufacture. Thus, R&B still accounts for much of the expense. If you only
needed to pay for the material while the IP's cost become negligible (or
invaluable), how bloody cheap would computers get? How quickly would they
evolve when all companies work in tandem, communally, owing to code and
design exchanges?
The customer wins.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz
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