Re: Re[2]: Hardware/Software

["Arnim Littek" <arnim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 30 Jan 1996 16:16:21 -0500, MISC@pisa.rockefeller.edu wrote:
> As much as I would like to have a massively parallel MISC machine, I can't see 
> that it would hurt anything to sell several million Net computers to people who 
> don't care about programming. A cheap, speedy MISC Forth machine attached to a 
> keyboard, a floppy drive (like the kind used by electronic cameras?), a 1 1/2 
> inch hard drive, and the family TV could find a huge market. Wouldn't 
> grandparents foot the bill just to get email from the grandkids?


Unless I miss my guess, this was NOT the design objective for MISC.  

I think the MISC design objectives are towards more embedded
processors, or no?  

If there are 2 million workstation CPUs sold in a year, there are 100
million PC CPUs sold.  But those numbers pale completely in
comparison to embedded systems.  If you stack up all the embedded
systems running, for instance, 32 bit processors, you get a number at
least an order of magnitude larger again.  And to the same for 8 bit
processor systems.  And perhaps another order of magnitude again for
4 bit systems.

I don't think its a good idea to jump to the conclusion that the home
computer market is a significant place to start - Net awareness or
not - the big numbers are in embedded systems.

FWIW.

Arnim.
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