[Scottish] Computing Power debate

[Kevin McDermott]

* Cameron Logie <scotlug@rushbrookit.com> [Sep 27. 2002 11:59]:
> Hi,
> 
> Following on from the debate last night about slow software on high spec
> machines, don't you think that developers of 3 or 4 years ago were,
> perhaps, more prepared to use lower level programming languages to gain
> additional speed ?
> 
> Maybe another problem is that compiler optimisations aren't being fully
> exploited so that the software can run on any x86 box.
> I wonder what a 686 optimised version of Word would be like, for example.
> 
> I blame nested API's for it. :)
> 

Still doesn't really answer where our power is going.

If a 4.7GHz machine is 1000 times more powerful than a 4.77Mhz machine, why don't things go 1000 times faster?

Memory has increased even more, and storage devices too...

If you consider that the Motorola 68000 series of processors were developed for use in Mini-computers, and nowadays pretty much any modern processor can emulate the chip very quickly...I still get left feeling that somewhere, someone's consuming processor power for no gain.

Kevin