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> unexpectedly revived the all but dead 808x architecture The Pentium Pro came out in 1995. To say the x86 architecture was "all but dead" at that point is no
by jandrese 5y ago
> unexpectedly revived the all but dead 808x architecture
The Pentium Pro came out in 1995. To say the x86 architecture was "all but dead" at that point is not supported by the historical record.
- vaxman 5y agoNot sure what dates the history books say (never had time to read them because, you know, living it), but Pentium Pro was known to exist well before 1995. Even Intel had been pushing their two other processor lines, the i860 and the iAPX 432, as "successor" to the ailing 808x and, as I wrote in the post, Dave Cutler's Windows NT team at Microsoft was buy getting their bits running on MIPS and other processors (out of fear that they would be blown off out of the water by Unix running machines much faster than the 486/586-aka-Pentium processors). It's okay, Linux and guys like Mad Dog eventually got 'em (with license-free hardware-neutral software), though Apple (and the M1) are getting the last laugh.