gnu@sun.uucp (John Gilmore) (12/04/84)
Quoted from Dtack Grounded #37, Nov/Dec 84, pg. 21: THE BUSTED TRICYCLE Remember the summer of '83? The country was in the depths of the deepest recession in recent decades. Digital Acoustics was shipping a whole bunch of 12.5MHz no-wait-state 92K static RAM boards to hackers and universities and a much larger bunch of 220K static RAM systems to an OEM. (Those 220K systems went for over $2,000 each; today a megabyte goes for $1595. Ah, progress!) And a company called AMD was running ads for the 80286 microprocessor, ads which proclaimed the vast superiority of the 286 over the 68000 and contemptuously referred to Motorola's second sources being "spread out from here to Tokyo". We are now running up hard on the heels of 1985. How many of you have seen an *AMD* 286? Not an Intel 286, an *AMD* 286? How many of you have seen any 286 that can outrun a 12.5MHz 68000? A 10MHz 286 *WILL* outrun at 12.5 68K in some applications, you know. Who's shipping product based on 10MHz 286s? Remember, *WE* shipped our first 12.5MHz 68000-based product on 1 June 1982, 2 1/2 years ago. Where's the 286? In the IBM PC/AT and running at 6MHz, that's where! (With, according to PC Week, several hitches in its getalong.) Oh, yes: Intel just signed up Fujitsu as a second source for the 286. We think that when AMD resumes advertisements for the 286, they will leave out the contemptuous reference to Motorola's second sources being "spread out from here to Tokyo!". --------- PERMISSION IS HEREBY granted to anyone whomever to make unlimited copies of any part or whole of this newsletter provided that a copy of THIS page, with its accompanying subscription information, is included. [Sorry, FNE, I didn't retype the whole page, just the sub info --gnu] SUBSCRIPTIONS: Beginning with issue #19, subscriptions are $15 for 10 issues in the US and Canada (US funds) or $25 for 10 issues elsewhere. Make the check payable to DTACK GROUNDED. The address is: DTACK GROUNDED 1415 E. McFadden, Ste. F SANTA ANA CA 92705 --------- [Addendum from gnu@sun: Thank you, Hal Hardenberg [editor of Dtack Grounded] for finally levelling the gun and pulling the trigger on that AMD/Intel marketing campaign. Motorola had the sense to restrain itself from sinking to their level, though I'm sure it would have made them feel good at the time.]