Finding the lost Gigaflops

2.0 Mac users want Gigaflops. They need Gigaflops. Mostly they do not knwo exactly what they need it for, but like Linux users who go to Gentoo just in order to compile everything with as much optimization as possible for your computer (and not the general i586 and later processors), the need for extra power is not something you can debate. It is a truism. An axiom. Beyond debate.

1.0 Mac users could not care less. If Safari starts up just before they get bored and runs smootly with a couple of simultaneous processes, they are fine with wat they've got. Word needs to work too, and if they find that the newest version of Word is too slow, they either 1) upgrade the computer (since it is obviously too old if it does not run the most important program in the world - the glorified typewriter - Word), or 2) they settle for the older version of Word.

Me, I am more picky. I know that bad programming makes a difference, and stupid programming most certainly makes a difference. Also, I want everything to be as efficient as possible, which is why I am very excited about the comming event: OpenCL and increased ease in parallell computing through Grand Central. Wonderful! So, not only can anyone create applications that potentially use unused CPU cycles in other Macs on the network (XGrid), there could come a time when all of your cores and your GPU are working together in computations! Fantastic!

"Hmmm.. but would it really make a difference?" Well, who knows! Starting up Microsoft Word will maybe not benefit that much, but I am using my Mac for statistical data analysis (in R) and signal processing stuff. Imagine what R could become in a well defined, stable multi-core, parallell computing environment! I am salivating just by the thought of it... :-)

(Ok, I guess it could be good for decoding media too :-) , if someone would be interestd in doing stuff like that, ha ha )