Re: 11 most influential microprocessors of all time

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

mdj wrote:
> On Sep 3, 3:49 am, Ken Gagne <kga...@gamebits.net> wrote:
>
> > What do you think of the hardware PC World chose and how they
> > presented it?  Would you have chosen differently?
>
> I would have :-)
>
> To me, 'most influential' is a toss up between the Z80 and the 6502.
> Why? Both of them entered an existing market and delivered the right
> product and most importantly at the right price. The 8080 and 6800
> where both too expensive to ignite the microcomputer revolution that
> the Z80 and 6502 did.
>
> Also, both these designs are still manufactured and still used to this
> day!
>
> Next I'd place either the 8086/8. You can't really argue with it
> considering the current PC's (and Macs) are direct descendants, and
> the architecture doesn't look like going away, ever.
>
> A shame they didn't include any of the more interesting
> microprocessors. What about the PA-RISC ? How the hell can *that* not
> rank in the top 10 ???

I certainly appreciate that!  ;-)

PA-RISC shook up the industry in the 1990s, by pushing performance
harder than most thought possible.  And it was the major factor in
catapulting HP into the server and high performance workstation markets.

Unfortunately, having done its job, it's largely retired now...but
it was a heck of a run!

-michael

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