I’ve been waiting for today for a very long time. Well, it’s past midnight right now, so I actually mean yesterday. Today (yesterday) is the day that IBM officially introduces the new Power5 server line.
I’m a UNIX person. I hate Windows. I’m an Intel shareholder (gasp).
That said, I’ve worked with Solaris on Sun hardware, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I never found the need to use the reset button (did one even exist?). However, I also found Sun hardware to be overly expensive; most college students cannot afford Sun hardware. I know I can’t. Furthermore, Solaris is not “free,” both in the monetary and intellectual sense. I believe in RMS’s principles, so Solaris isn’t my cup of tea.
I just couldn’t give up the idea of 64-bit performance, though. I yearned for an affordable 64-bit architecture and became elated when AMD introduced their Opteron. However, I felt limited by the x86 platform, most notably by the lack of mission-critical reliability. I needed something different.
That’s when I discovered the Power architecture. I was totally impressed by the specs of the Power5. These feelings were only reinforced when I tested Apple’s latest computers. I was also pleased by IBM’s commitment to the open source community: IBM has made tremendous efforts to ensure that Linux runs on Power. IBM has also announced plans to open up the Power architecture. All in all, I wanted to purchase Power5 server, but none were available.
Why didn’t I just buy an Apple? I’ve never actually owned an Apple, and I’m not too happy with the idea of vendor lock-in. I’ll just stick to plain IBM.
Well, IBM has started selling Power5 servers. I plan on getting a low-end Power5 server when they come out.
Post a Comment