Ted Hoff interview

[Terry Yager]

In a (recent?) interview, Ted Hoff, who has been with Intel since it's infancy, was quoted as saying:

MB: That’s the thing that obviously is one of the very key things. Isn’t it? That the generations have grown out of each other.

TH: Yes. And, I mean, you could gripe about how bad the architectures may be. Each one bears a burden because it has been constrained to have a degree of compatibility with the previous generation. But, at the same time, it is remarkable that this path has been developed. I mean, even in a personal sense, I am still running on an 8088 based system, but one of these days I am going to convert to a 386 based system. It is nice to know that there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll be able to move a lot of the stuff I do over.

(Emphasis mine).

How about that? He's looking forward to upgrading to a '386!
For the full interview see this link:

http://www.intel.com/intel/intelis/museum/research/arc_collect/oral_history/hoff.htm

--T

 

[carlsson]

Maybe he means 386 compatible system (which most more recent PCs should be)? For example, Linux comes with kernels optimized for 386, 486, Pentium etc which means the lowest common denominator should work for all but you get better performance with one optimizied for your particular computer.

 

[Terry Yager]

Upon re-reading the article, it becomes apparent that it may not be all that recent after all. It seems to have more of an '80s flavor to it.

--T