> Attention, all FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD developers..

> This is a chance we cannot ignore..  [...DIG64...guidelines [to]
> establish basic system building blocks, interfaces, and programming
> conventions for upcoming IA-64 based servers and their system-level
> software...]

What the heck is IA-64, and why should we care about it?

> The DIG64 spells out a roadmap for eliminating obsolete technologies.

"[E]liminating obsolete technologies" will not be very popular with the
NetBSD crowd.  We still run on 68020/20s, and I think 68020/16.666s.
Possibly even older and slower machines; I haven't kept close enough
track of all the ports.

> To sign up [...] http://www.dig64.org/signup.htm

...which demands a whole bunch of completely irrelevant goop, like
title and company (people not associated with companies are
marginalized, are they?), and *all three* of snail, email, and phone
addresses (what the fsck for?!).

And they don't even let you *look at* this "Adopters [sic] Agreement"
until you provide all this - you're being asked to buy a pig in a poke.

There apparently there is exactly one processor involved, that being
something from Intel, which since it has a name rather than a number is
presumably their latest chip to waste silicon on backward compatability
with past mistakes.  And these "Adopters" will, it seems, be purely
advisory to a board of unspecified composition, who has no visible
accountability to anyone.  Put together with the secrecy surrounding
this mysterious Agreement and all the info demanded before being
allowed to even look at it, and this whole thing looks to me more like
an attempt by Intel to get an appearance of input from others to a
group to rubberstamp their latest closed-but-probably-called-"Open"
standard than anything worthwhile.

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
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