crisp@mips.COM (Richard Crisp) (11/06/90)
I was pleased to get a call today from Ben Smith of Byte magazine. He was
interested in tracking down what it was that they allegedly published
regarding the ECL R6000 chipset from MIPS/BIT. I told him that all I knew
was that someone had posted a message attributed to Byte magazine that
claimed that BIT had stopped further development on the R6000 chipset.
Now we all know that it is a false rumor that BIT had ceased R6000 development
and we later learned that the attributed source was not Byte but was some
publication from the UK as I recall.
I think that this is worth mentioning for two different reasons:
1). Publications don't appreciate having quotes attributed to them
when they didn't make them.
2). Byte is very sensitive about avoiding an image that portrays them
as a rumor mill (very admirable).
As a side note, you will recall I had attributed to Byte a story they
published in 1978 or 1979 wherein they stated Motorola would offer
an EPROM based control store on the 68000 (a classic example of a false
rumor <the chip that is>). Well in my conversation with Mr. Smith, he
asserted that they had in fact published that rumor in that timeframe.
He was very interested in making sure those sort of things don't happen
again at Byte.
Again, I'd like to express my thanks to the diligent truth seekers at
Byte. I think that they deserve a hearty congratulation for being so
fastidious. This serves as a reminder that we should all be as diligent
when we report the "truth" vs "rumors".
--
Richard Crisp crisp@mips.com
MIPS Computer Systems !decwrl!mips!crisp
928 Arques MS 2-02 (408) 524-8177
Sunnyvale, Ca 94086