Military Industry of Great Powers: Build the Strongest Flanker.

Chapter 249: Intel is far ahead and panicking

With the support of open source enthusiasts all over the world, the applications of the Linux system have become very rich. Basically, Linux has more than one software available on the Windows platform.

This has also caused trouble to many people, and some testing tools do not even need to be developed by Intel itself. You can intuitively find the tools you want to use directly at various ftp sites on the network.

Floating point calculations, integer calculations, matrix calculations...

After several test procedures, Moore's face turned dark.

Technical director Victor Bales said in despair: "They are right, the performance has been improved by four to five times..."

Moore started operating it himself, and he was disappointed to find that the machine ran the Linux Windows operating system, which was extremely smooth.

For most microcomputer enthusiasts, when they are doing boring programming, they have been exploring how to make microcomputers more interesting...

That is to make the microcomputer talk, play videos, connect to the Internet and communicate with people... All of these combined are not as good as playing games...

As for the current top two-dimensional 3D masterpiece, Red Alert must be tested.

Compared with the 486 computer, which can only enable two-player battles, Moore was surprised to find that this ASUS computer can enable eight-player battles.

"Oh God, my 486 started a two-player battle, and when there were more soldiers, it was already overwhelmed!"

Red Alert is a game that actually does not have very high requirements for graphics cards. Plane 3D does not have many textures and vertex calculations, but it has high requirements for CPU performance. All operations of tanks, infantry, and machinery require CPU calculations. There are also calculations of shelling, shooting, etc.

486 can only be considered playable, and only playable. In fact, many people who use 486 computers to play Red Alert actively return to the DOS system or Linux non-window operating system to play the game.

The purpose is to save the additional computing power of the CPU for the Windows operating system.

Even so, the 486 computer is still overwhelmed. If two people fight with more than a hundred troops, then both sides are basically finished. The lag can make you doubt your life.

This is why even though Red Alert was launched more than half a year ago, it is still considered a hardware killer.

"This ASUS computer can play with eight people, and the game can run smoothly even when 1000 units are exploded!"

Moore said: "ARM is a reduced instruction set. They have more advantages than our 486 in simple scientific calculations!"

And many people in the industry can see that Intel carries too much historical baggage.

From the eight-bit processor 8088, to the sixteen-bit 80286, the thirty-two-bit 80386, and the 80486, when Intel launches the latest processor, it is compatible with all processor instruction sets they have launched in history.

The purpose is very simple, that is, to be compatible with all previous software.

In other words, 8088-bit software developed for 8 twenty years ago can also run on the latest 80486 computer.

When Intel gained strong compatibility, it also put shackles on itself. They paid an additional price of 30% of transistors, which could have doubled the performance of the 486.

But so what if it doubles.

VIA's pt400 processor is not a little bit ahead, but a long way ahead.

Ngarta Tombabaye is the project director of Intel's next-generation 586 processor. He said pessimistically to Intel Vice President of Technology Hannibal Lecudo: "Intel's next-generation 586 processor has a maximum frequency of 166mhz. , as for performance, it may be less than half of the pt400 processor!"

Hannibal said: "Why, why can our 500-nanometer process only reach a frequency of 166mhz!" Marco Dicali, director of chip process technology, shook his head and said: "It is clear that they use copper wires to connect, use copper wires to connect , which means faster speed and lower power consumption!”

Marco is very depressed. Intel’s research on copper conductors began in the 1980s, and they are still troubled by the “copper halo” phenomenon caused by ultra-thin copper conductors when encountering high-frequency currents. They also encountered a bottleneck in the technology that prevented copper from being immersed in the silicon substrate during deposition.

But 500-nanometer technology and even the more advanced 350-nanometer process were developed by Intel in the laboratory three years ago.

However, making it in the laboratory is different from commercializing the process.

350 with 586nm process sells for one million US dollars each. Do you think anyone will buy it?

A pessimistic atmosphere enveloped the Intel Experimental Center, and the Wall Street stock market was the most direct. The next day, Intel's stock price plummeted 36%, and five billion US dollars of capital evaporated in one day...

On the other side of the Wintel alliance, Microsoft is also having a hard time. The launch of the Linux Windows operating system has dealt a big blow to Microsoft.

The voodoo graphics card released by Zhongxun, due to its huge price affinity and extreme friendliness to the Windows operating system, briefly stimulated the sales of Windows 3.1 and indirectly stimulated Microsoft's stock price.

But with the release of Red Alert, there is no Windows version of the game, which brings Microsoft back to its original form.

Mr. Bill is really panicked. Microsoft has done statistics and found that 90% of Harvard students who own computers have used or are currently using Linux systems.

At its peak, Microsoft's system share was only 27%.

This means that the remaining 73% of users are either using unauthorized operating systems or open source Linux systems.

Bill said to Paul: "Intel has restricted us. Linux can support the ARM platform and the x86 platform, but Microsoft only supports the x86 platform."

Paul shook his head and said: "VIA has installed an instruction set mapping chip. This is a very efficient solution. Windows can also be installed on the ARM platform!"

Bill shook his head and said: "That's at the expense of hardware performance. No one can bear it, walking around with their own computer bound..."

Yes, compared to the loss of performance, the backlash from game manufacturers stings Microsoft. Compared to the gaming experience of Linux, the frequent crashes of Windows are too hurt.

Paul said: "Bill, do you want to develop a Windows system that natively supports the ARM platform? This will bring us back to our advantageous position!"

Bill said: "How long do you think it will take Intel to catch up with VIA's technology!"

"Who knows!" Bill shook his head and said, "Ask Mr. Samuel Russell, maybe he knows!"

Bill slapped the table hard and said: "Paul, Windows needs to develop an ARM-based operating system, and the project must be developed as soon as possible. I think Intel faces bigger problems than Microsoft..."

ARM is like a sharp sword, sweeping across the United States and wailing.

Compared to Intel and Microsoft.

HP and Compaq seem to have been hit by a force of seven inches. They have a big business and have hundreds of thousands of microcomputers in stock in warehouses around the world, most of which are the latest model 486 computers.

And it seems that at this moment, all computers cannot be sold...

(End of this chapter)