Chris Morgan <cm@mihalis.net> wrote:
: I don't see why workstations need to be up 24/7. To me that's what
: servers are for. Anyway, you are well within your rights to insist on
: ECC, but most of my users choose a PC without ECC over a SPARC

Uh... because one might be often running applications on a workstation that
are kept open or running 24/7/365 in order to get the most efficiency out of
the resource/business-asset called "workstation". When you have thousands of
these critters then any system/application instability from memory errors
carries a high cost to the operation, definitely a higher cost than the
what the incremental cost might have been of having ECC memory in the first
place. No, we aren't YET talking servers here, but workstations.

One must remember, "workstation" does not equal "PC". You are correct
that a PC doesn't need ECC memory, but a workstation does (even workstations
that might run Microsoft OS on x86 hardware). One should not confuse the two
terms.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Apple TiBook and Cube at home, but I also take
care of Sparc day in and day out at work.

However, I do agree with the original implied premise that a high-end Mac G5
qualifies more as a workstation-class system that should have had at least
the option for ECC memory. On the other hand, as a good employee, I am happy
that Apple isn't even trying to compete in the UNIX workstation space, so
that more UltraSparc processors can be sold. Regardless, the opinions
expressed here are my own and are not speaking for any my employer may or may
not have on the subject.

Chris Barrera
cbarrera@t i . c o m