[mdlug] [Fwd: Re: [opensuse] 64 bit vrs 32 bit advantagesspeedetc.]

[Aaron Kulkis]

David Lane wrote:
> It it an Intel Compiler?

That utterly immaterial

The law mandates that for Intel to do business with
the federal government, their functionality must be
available through a second source.  AMD pays Intel
the required licensing fees.

Intel presents the compiler with no caveats that
the compiler produces code which sandbags the
performance of SSE/SSE2/SSE3 compliant CPUs from
competing manufacturers.

If I were in Iraq, and found out that my particular
computer was running slow, because Intel had
deliberately monkey-wrenched the output of the
compiler running my mission-critical program,
solely because my particular piece of equipment
had a second-source CPU in it, and it cost the
lives of any of my fellow soldiers, I'd be pissed
off enough to take serious, substantial, and
extra-judicial actions against the company and
those people who perpetrated this crime.

Deliberately disabling optimizations just because
a CPU is produced by a competitor is just plain
flat out immoral, dishonest, and I'm willing to
bet, utterly illegal.

And I'm a "limited government" libertarian.


The right to swing your arms ends where my nose begins.

> 
> David
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: "Ingles, Raymond" <Raymond.Ingles at compuware.com>
> To: MDLUG's Main discussion list <mdlug at mdlug.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 2:57:36 PM
> Subject: Re: [mdlug] [Fwd: Re: [opensuse] 64 bit vrs 32 bit 
> advantagesspeedetc.]
> 
>  > From: David Lane
> 
>  > Compilers produce executable binary op code.  If I were the Intel 
> Compiler
>  > Project Manager I would not let ant one spend any time for AMD CPU's. I
>  > would however have to find other employment If I were told to "Slow Down"
>  > non-Intel CPU's.
> 
>  > And Yes I will have to read the article.
> 
> Good, because that's what they did. Their compiler checks for SSE/SSE2/SSE3
> capability, and uses it... if its a "GenuineIntel" CPU. But if it's any 
> other
> kind, it doesn't use SSE instructions... even if the CPU uses the standard
> method to inform applications of SSE capability. I.e. even though the AMD
> processors can run SSE code - and use Intel's own standard for specifying
> that capability - the Intel compilers refuse to use SSE instructions on AMD
> processors.
> 
> This is a deliberate incompatibility. At the webpage I referred to, the 
> author
> has scripts that patch either generated executables or the compiler to allow
> SSE on AMD. The programs run just fine.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Ray Ingles                                        (313) 227-2317
> 
> In October 1965, the Selective Service announced that married men
>   without children could then be drafted. Exactly nine months and
>       two days later... [Dick Cheney's] first child was born.
> http://dir.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/08/01/draft/index.html
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