1. If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
2. The most outrageous lies that can be invented will find believers if a man only tells them with all his might.
While we won't recognize anyone else specifically in this thread we had to tip our hat to Robert with a couple of Mark Twain (MarkTime) quotes since he got this started in such a "humorous" way...;-)
First, about the Articia and the G3 vs. G4 debate...
Comparing the rated speed of two processors in MHz is virtually useless unless the processors are exactly of the same architecture. Even processors within the same family cannot be directly compared (Pentium I vs. II, III vs. IV, G3 vs. G4, etc.). For example, the enhancements made to the Pentium II gave it far better performance characteristics than the Pentium. The difference in MHz alone could not account for the improvement. The increase was due more to a number of architectural changes, including cache sizes and algorithms, pipeline organization, memory access, etc. If you cannot compare the MHz "rating" of CPUs from the same family (hint: Altivec) as it compares to the relative speed of the entire computer, you really cannot compare the clock speeds across two distinct families (IntelWhatever and PPC). The clock speeds of CPUs reminds us of the marketing hype that goes into selling vacuum cleaners or blow dryers -- which machine has more amps? Anyway, back to computers...what "sucks" or "blows" more? Pressed to take a stand we did because we knew more about how the Articia worked last fall than the supplier themselves. We knew that as a function of the WORK that could be done that the G3 WAS faster than the G4 available at the time. This is not a question of how fast you can "huff and puff" around the block. This is a function of what work is accomplished during the "run." There will not be any public retraction about the Articia. You are entitled to believe what you want. We have made our position clear. We have been very straight forward about the problems.
Next...We are willing to support the OS4 effort as we have AROS, LinuxPPC, OpenBeOS, NewOS, etc., etc. The "bouquet in the Pegasos vase"...remember? :-) The Pegasos uses OpenFirmware, an industry standard applied by IBM, Sun, Motorola, etc. To be successful in a broader market this is a key feature we have promoted and are finding is essential to broad acceptance. A1 uses something different. When the A1 (remember this is a hardware discussion) can achieve an OpenFirmware standard running MorphOS will be easy. We have tried MorphOS on the G4 A1. It works as well as the Articia allows it to work.
Just a bit more background information... as we have said before and as it will CONTINUE to become progressively evident the Articia still has problems. We purchased 24 A660BNGE Articia S Chipsets in February 2003 and nothing has changed -- the Articia is not reliable. The A660BNGP is what was used to produce the Pegasos I. To ignore this situation is at best a distortion of reality and in the worst way, dishonest. Whether people have the capacity to accept this is no longer our problem. We did our best to make sure everyone understood the issues, starting with Mai themselves. This is part of the reason we replaced at no cost the Betatesters we sold and why we are offering a couple 200 Euro upgrade options from the Pegasos I to the Pegasos II. This was also one of the reasons we decided to hold the Summer Specials...
A last word about this subject...we produced the last batch of the Pegasos Is with the April2 patch two weeks ago. The first 1Ghz+ G4 CPU cards work, but guess what? THEY ONLY WORK WITH CERTAIN BOARDS!!! We will only be selling them as a matched sets and we will NOT make as many as we intended because ONCE AGAIN the majority of the problems can be attributed to the Articia. We are counting the days to the Pegasos II release.
About the SuperBundle package... it is designed to fuel the fire we have started with the Pegasos. We need plenty of satisfied users! We are doing are best to do that. :-) There is plenty of activity behind the scenes and we will be announcing a few things in the next 10 to 12 days. We are still trying to get organized...;-)
The idea today is to begin to build up credibility outside the Community. We think OSNews is a good place to do this, so we will begin to rally folks from here there more and more. Remember whatever the OS, you need hardware to start with, then an OS and applications. In the end, the applications are what drives everyone back to the hardware. There is a delicate juggling act to manage. If we can establish credibility in a number of OS Communities things will start to move ahead with more than the sum of the parts...:-)
What we feel some have missed in this process is that in the end the Pegasos supports many operating systems. This associates more developers to the platform and more "brands" at the same time. This gives credibility and creates an environment for innovation and cross-OS pollination. For example, we already have some neat BeOS features being ported to MorphOS. When you have the hardware, OS, and applications conveniently interconnected things can happen faster and more closely coordinated. That is the secret here. In the end, MorphOS benefits because it is the "smallest" common denominator for each Pegasos through Genesi. There is no one else in the market that can do this...
Our positioning?!
Why Choose A Pegasos? Why The Dell Not! :-D
We are the "ultimate Geek machine!" :-D Do Geeks want to support clone outfits that benefit from pumping out the cheapest boxes with the least innovation?!? No, they want to go with a Company that - for all its faults - is ready to innovate like crazy -- WITH THEM! Dell are parasites making commodity products. They do not advance the state of the art of the industry. They just make it a bit cheaper and you get what you pay for (and pay for, and pay for...). There is a MAJOR Geek factor working here that will serve to raise all OS boats...;-)
We think the First Computing Revolution of the 21st Century is about to begin. The Pegasos will be what kicks it all off -- freedom, flexibility and value! Cool Computing! :-D
Just a last word for now...have a look at
Micro Warehouse. When we get them distributing the Pegasos will this Community complain or understand the implications? Remember Linux and the Trojan Horse (MorphOS partitioned on the harddrive) ...and remember the bootable CD for Mac owners. Mainstream!!! Bringing something new to the market demands you leverage off things already there.
More later. We will finish the answer later, but get this posted now.
Have a great day!
Raquel and Bill :-)
