[Eug Wanker]

http://www.arstechnica.com/cpu/03q2/...terview-1.html

I'm glad I got a chance to talk to IBM, because the discussion definitely cleared up some questions and concerns I had about the processor's design. The VMX/Altivec unit turns out to be quite a bit less restricted and more powerful than I'd initially thought, which is good news for the Mac platform. However, a vector unit design along the lines of the Motorola G4e would be even better (though how much better would depend on the application), and it's nice to see that IBM is exploring the possibility of moving in that direction.

Finally, not to return to the tiresome post-WWDC SPEC benchmark debate, but the interview also brought home in a very fascinating way the compiler's pivotal role in the whole hardware-software ecosystem. Specifically, a design like the 970, which strays in some significant ways from the standard processor model presumed by a cross-platform compiler like gcc, isn't going to reach its full performance potential without a more custom-fitted compiler. So it's good to know that Apple and IBM are working together on this issue, and hopefully they'll have made even further headway by the time the first G5 towers start to move out into the market.

Eug's favourite quote from IBM: IBM is not gonna try to compete with Apple's reality distortion field