Re: Apple and the Holy War

[pausch@saafNOSPAM.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <390DF7EE.72A5062E@dcnet2000.com>,
Phoenyx  <quazar@dcnet2000.com> wrote:
 
> Greg Buchner wrote:
>> But still can be beat by a 450MHz PPC G4 on a series of
>> Photoshop tests.
>> 
>> So, not much...the underlying technology of the Athlon
>> and Pentiums is approaching 30 years old.
> 
> The problem's not the cpu, it's the compatibility with
> older soft/hardware which holds it back.
 
Backwards compatibility offers both advantages and disadvantages.
You point to some disadvantages here.  But htere are advantages too:
for instance you don't have to throw away all your old software when
you get a new system.
 
> If the system never had to go to 'real' mode and could run in
> it's native mode full time things would be fine.
 
You can do that on a PC -- if you run Linux or Free-BSD on it.
 
> To get around this the software (read OS) providers can fix
> most of this.
 
It's already fixed -- in Linux and Free-BSD.
 
> Of course, the Bios is also another problem as it also
> runs in 'real' mode.
 
Therefore the BIOS isn't used in protected mode.
 
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