3 ms·

But isn't that just the result of lack of hardware gains limiting new software application areas? If single threaded performance had been doubling every two yea

But isn't that just the result of lack of hardware gains limiting new software application areas? If single threaded performance had been doubling every two years for the past 10 years like it did historically, then there would likely be new applications available that made use of that 30x performance gains to deliver functionality that would be popular enough that it would reinvigorate the upgrade process. It seems unlikely that hardware improvements have stalled out right at the point where the performance level was just good enough.

blihp 8y ago
There's more to the lack of radical new applications than faster single core performance. We've had increasingly multi-core systems for over a decade now, but applications have been slow to appear. We've also had increasingly powerful GPUs with compute capability over that time. I think even if single core performance were still increasing at 50% or even 25% per year we'd still be here. Sure, it requires work to move off the legacy single-thread paradigm but it's also the economics of the software business these days. When you combine the increased control/lockdown by the mainstream platform owners and the decreasing willingness of customers to pay for software in the era of no-cost software, there isn't much incentive for new applications to appear. Notice that all of the major players are mostly focused on services and server side for the heavy lifting these days. It's not because the user hardware can't do it (hell, on the server side, CPUs and GPUs tend to be less powerful per-core), it's that it makes more economic sense for them to not bother doing interesting things on the users device.
mr_toad 8y ago
> But isn't that just the result of lack of hardware gains limiting new software application areas? It’s no accident that the biggest advances in the last ten years have been in areas not limited by single thread performance; machine learning & cloud computing.
JohnFen 7y ago
> But isn't that just the result of lack of hardware gains limiting new software application areas? For my needs? No. It's not that more performant systems (including software) aren't available, it's that they don't offer me any real benefit that justifies the hassle of replacing and reconfiguring my existing systems.

blihp 8y ago

There's more to the lack of radical new applications than faster single core performance. We've had increasingly multi-core systems for over a decade now, but applications have been slow to appear. We've also had increasingly powerful GPUs with compute capability over that time. I think even if single core performance were still increasing at 50% or even 25% per year we'd still be here. Sure, it requires work to move off the legacy single-thread paradigm but it's also the economics of the software business these days. When you combine the increased control/lockdown by the mainstream platform owners and the decreasing willingness of customers to pay for software in the era of no-cost software, there isn't much incentive for new applications to appear. Notice that all of the major players are mostly focused on services and server side for the heavy lifting these days. It's not because the user hardware can't do it (hell, on the server side, CPUs and GPUs tend to be less powerful per-core), it's that it makes more economic sense for them to not bother doing interesting things on the users device.

mr_toad 8y ago

> But isn't that just the result of lack of hardware gains limiting new software application areas? It’s no accident that the biggest advances in the last ten years have been in areas not limited by single thread performance; machine learning & cloud computing.

JohnFen 7y ago

> But isn't that just the result of lack of hardware gains limiting new software application areas? For my needs? No. It's not that more performant systems (including software) aren't available, it's that they don't offer me any real benefit that justifies the hassle of replacing and reconfiguring my existing systems.