Lies, damned lies, and benchmarks: RS6000 v. SS-1+

[John F Haugh II]

In article <1991Jan31.152640.12173 at rice.edu> irv at masc35.rice.edu (Irvin Lustig) writes:
>In article <1991Jan30.003004.74 at intek01.uucp>, mark at intek01.uucp (Mark McWiggins) writes:
>|> Any comments on this from RS6000 users?  Thanks in advance.
>|> 
>Our Fortran application screams on an RS6000 530.  It is about 6 to 7
>times faster than on a Sparcstation 1+.

I can't imagine any Sparcstation out-performing a S/6000 in floating
point, considering how poorly a Sparcstation performs relative to a
S/6000 in simpler tasks.  I've never met anyone who wasn't impressed
by the performance of the machine, and frankly, I miss mine.

>We have also found that IBM's level of support for bugs and other
>problems is far better than anything we've received from Sun.

I'm certain the people working in Defect Support here in Austin
appreciate the vote of confidence.  I know the manager who set up
the groups which work on the actual software fixes, and he is very
committed to providing a high level of service.

>                                                               After
>our recent experience with Sun, we are stunned that they have been so
>successful in selling workstations.    

Considering that IBM sold $1 billion in S/6000 last year, perhaps
IBM has learned something that Sun long forgot.
-- 
John F. Haugh II                             UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
Ma Bell: (512) 832-8832                           Domain: jfh at rpp386.cactus.org
"13 of 17 valedictorians in Boston High Schools last spring were immigrants
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