I don't recall OpenSPARC starting any kind of "ratcheting process" (whatever that is) in 2006 or anything similar when MIPS was made an open ISA so where is thi

I don't recall OpenSPARC starting any kind of "ratcheting process" (whatever that is) in 2006 or anything similar when MIPS was made an open ISA so where is this giddy claim of inevitability coming from? An open ISA is a small part of the picture since you have to then go from an ISA to an design and then from the design to a fabricable chip (imagine it cost you $X00,000 or more every time you compiled) and that last step has to be re-done for each process node for every fab you use. And then don't forget you need a compiler that's tweaked to generate code for your design that puts it on par with competing processor designs.