vertigo, 11 months ago

I find it both tragic and amusing that Intel tried to do the right thing in processor design thrice. And failed all three times.

The iAPX432 processors were late to market, so the 8086 and 8088 were commissioned to fill the gap. It turns out that the 8086 was measurably faster than the iAPX432 when it did finally deliver, so the 8086 won out. The i432 was basically DOA.

Intel tried again with the i960 family (see http://www.righto.com/2023/07/the-complex-history-of-intel-i960-risc.html), which is a RISCy version of the iAPX432. Unlike its predecessor, it was actually fast enough to be useful. But, the 80386 just destroyed it.

And the third time was the titanic Itanium architecture, which the Pentium family summarily humiliated.

Sometimes, I can't help but kind of feel sad for Intel.