4 ms·

Serious simulation is already a thing in racing, aviation and military.

by zeusk 8y ago

jacquesm 8y ago
Even they were pretty happy to get rid of their SGI stuff and replace it with cheap (and plentiful) hardware. This stuff has enabled entire industries that are not 'sexy' but very useful.
- pjmlp 8y ago
  That was more a consequence of Linux's adoption. In a parallel universe SGI would still exist, selling Ultrix or eventually NT workstations.
  - jacquesm 8y ago
    Not really, most of that stuff runs under Windows. Linux machines are few and far between unless it is us techies that are using them, then suddenly it seems to be everywhere. As for SGI, they also went the Windows way and that is one of the contributing factors to their demise. I really miss my Irix machine but it wouldn't be able to keep up with todays demands, but even the slowest SGI boxes (Indy, 100 Mhz R4000) was impressively fast for the time when it was made.
    - rbanffy 8y ago
      Wasn't Rich Belluzzo in charge of HP-PA when they decided to ditch it along with HP-UX because Windows was the future, then moved to SGI, where he licensed their crown jewels to Nvidia, decided to make some of the worst Windows NT machines ever seen, and then moved on to... Microsoft? I think it's one of the first instances of weaponized outplacement I've ever seen. > I really miss my Irix machine but it wouldn't be able to keep up with todays demands You can always run X on them and do the heavy lifting from a cheap Xeon E3 box... I can't wait to bring over my IBM RS/6000 ;-)
  - craigsmansion 8y ago
    I'd like to think it was SGI mismanagement, getting off the dedicated graphics/supercomputer boat too late. In my parallel Universe, SGI would occupy the spot of Apple with high-end beautifully designed consumer laptops and electronics with a slick IRIX as its OSX. That would have been something I would have loved to hate.
  - rbanffy 8y ago
    s/Ultrix/IRIX/ It's Unix, just way cooler than the other kids ;-) > eventually NT workstations Heaven forbid.

Serious simulation is already a thing in racing, aviation and military.

by zeusk 8y ago

Serious simulation is already a thing in racing, aviation and military.

Even they were pretty happy to get rid of their SGI stuff and replace it with cheap (and plentiful) hardware. This stuff has enabled entire industries that are not 'sexy' but very useful.

pjmlp 8y ago
That was more a consequence of Linux's adoption. In a parallel universe SGI would still exist, selling Ultrix or eventually NT workstations.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  Not really, most of that stuff runs under Windows. Linux machines are few and far between unless it is us techies that are using them, then suddenly it seems to be everywhere. As for SGI, they also went the Windows way and that is one of the contributing factors to their demise. I really miss my Irix machine but it wouldn't be able to keep up with todays demands, but even the slowest SGI boxes (Indy, 100 Mhz R4000) was impressively fast for the time when it was made.
  - rbanffy 8y ago
    Wasn't Rich Belluzzo in charge of HP-PA when they decided to ditch it along with HP-UX because Windows was the future, then moved to SGI, where he licensed their crown jewels to Nvidia, decided to make some of the worst Windows NT machines ever seen, and then moved on to... Microsoft? I think it's one of the first instances of weaponized outplacement I've ever seen. > I really miss my Irix machine but it wouldn't be able to keep up with todays demands You can always run X on them and do the heavy lifting from a cheap Xeon E3 box... I can't wait to bring over my IBM RS/6000 ;-)
- craigsmansion 8y ago
  I'd like to think it was SGI mismanagement, getting off the dedicated graphics/supercomputer boat too late. In my parallel Universe, SGI would occupy the spot of Apple with high-end beautifully designed consumer laptops and electronics with a slick IRIX as its OSX. That would have been something I would have loved to hate.
- rbanffy 8y ago
  s/Ultrix/IRIX/ It's Unix, just way cooler than the other kids ;-) > eventually NT workstations Heaven forbid.