Brett (ggtgp@yahoo.com) on 2/10/12 wrote:
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>Anon (no@email.com) on 2/10/12 wrote:
>---------------------------
>>Brett (ggtgp@yahoo.com) on 2/10/12 wrote:
>>---------------------------
>>>Apple is rumored to be developing a CPU based on [OpenCL]. (Apple created OpenGL) [and OpenCL]
>>
>>ROTFL, go back and start again, cool aid boy!
>>(sorry, thats a bit personal, but come on...)
>
>Kool-Aid is spelled with a K not a C.
>
>>Next time perhaps put a C in there, not a G!
>
>An easy typo to make, mistake noted.
>
>>And since when did apple matter AT ALL in high performance?
>>it doesnt take much to plan music or videos - do they have any other market these days?
>
>That sort of comment has been made about everything Apple has done, phones, portable
>music players, tablets, x86 desktops, PowerPC desktops, >etc.

There's a big difference. Apple explicitly targeted those markets (music players, phones, etc.) with their products. They have NEVER targeted HPC, and have entirely backed away from anything that looks like a server. So Anon's statement is quite reasonable.

>I can come up with a list of reasons why a Macroscalar >Processor cannot do better
>than any other CPU, and thus is doomed.

>Apple does not ship anything until it is polished and >better than the alternatives,
>bad products don't ship at Apple. If this ships it will be >worth a look.

Uh huh. Like all these:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/44206

Apple is good, but they are hardly perfect. Plenty of their products and software have been poor in comparison to the alternatives. But that's true of most companies. Apple excels in that they have a high success rate (not perfect though) and have an uncanny ability to shape how consumer preference (and thus markets) will evolve. That necessarily involves taking risks, which means you sometimes fail.

>>>Apples Macroscalar Processor Architecture
>>>http://www.macrumors.com/2012/02/06/apples-macroscalar-trademark-application-sparks-speculation-on-processor-architecture-advances/
>>>
>>>http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/02/06/apple_trademarks_its_patented_macroscalar_code_optimization_technology.html
>>
>>>
>>>http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2012/02/apples-macroscalar-architecture-will-it-take-ios-to-the-next-level.html
>>>
>>>Google patents list for Macroscalar
>>>http://www.google.com/search?tbm=pts&tbo=p&hl=en&q=macroscalar
>>
>
>Excuse me for thinking that CPU architecture details are on topic here.
>I will wait for these new features detailed in the above patent docs to be rumored
>for inclusion in the next x86 extension to mention it >again.

It's very much on topic, but it would be good if you didn't hijack the thread. Honestly the topic seems important enough to merit its own thread.

Honestly, I've seen a few macroscalar articles, but they all seem to ignore the ~50 years of previous compiler tricks. Many of which are techniques for aggressively scheduling loops in parallel.

David