Cell may or may not work. It may rock the world or it may be a flop, most likely somewhere in between, but I don't think that's the point. To me, cell is an attempt at something grand, not only the change computing but break Moore's law, that IMHO deserves recognition. While companies like Intel and AMD will happily shrink their die, advance on lithography to humm along pin-picking each other, as if waiting for the day when Moore's law won't sustain them anymore, Sony has taken a much more grand approach, naive or unrealistic you may view it, the very fact that they have started this not JUST from a profit point of view but from a engineering one as well just earns my respect. Going foward to *try* leap Moore's Law instead of trying to sustain it or become contained by it is also such a healthier approach no? What ever happened to human ingenunity?
It's really funny really; everything that Ken Kutaragi said in the interview with Nikkei Electronics has come true. (well not *everything*). He was talking about how there are far too many engineers (who call themselves engieers because either they have a degree and read some publication like the Nikkei E, or in our case, Beyond3D) just sit back and criticize on a given proposal without - heck, I just found the quote:
"There are too many watchers who criticize other people's technologies and there are too little who really are giving everything a good thought. Those mere criticizers claim they are engineers, but alas, they are salaried workers. They think they understand their stints by reading NIKKEI ELECTRONICS, for instance. It is nothing if the magazine knows more than the field in which you specify."
It's more than true, it's blatantly obvious. Although many of you bring up very valid points, it resides on too many assumptions. None of us here know anything about CELL in any detail. It seems ludicrous to me that the very team at Sony, IBM and Toshiba designing this has not thought of complications such as latency, programmable vs. hardwired etc. What I mean to say is, while your concerns are valid, you are hardly the first to think of such things; they were considered at the same time the concept for CELL was born. If we can agree on that, then it would be safe to say they would not carry forth such a costly and risky venture without thinkng through the exactly details, let alone such blatantly obvious things as latency.
I have to admitt I like Sony's engineering department, especially A/V and SCEI. I can't say the same about Sony Music or their customer management in the U.S. But Sony engineering, I truely am a big fan of. (Better admitt it first than being called one later
) The reason is quite simple - they are visionaries. They gave birth to portable music, flat screen TVs, etc. Some fail, some prosper, but what matters is they have vision and they change the way many people live their lives in ways beyond incrementality (word?). This kind of healthy mentality, instead of sitting on one's fat ass surfing some forum and typing one lined negative sentiment is what makes me smile.
