kernel designations terminology confusion -- amd64 used for into quad core

[Mark Stapper]

Mel Flynn wrote:
> On Wednesday 05 August 2009 05:27:55 Erik Trulsson wrote:
>
>   
>> The amd64 architecture is called that because it was AMD who invented and
>> created it and was for a while the only one using it and since AMD named
>> the architecture AMD64 that was the name FreeBSD used too.  Later Intel
>> also started using it (while using their own name(s) for it), but FreeBSD
>> has stuck with the name amd64.
>>     
>
> This isn't completely correct. There is actually an ia64 architecture, before 
> Intel was ready to give up the "who dictates the PC 64bit architecture" 
> battle. There's a handful of CPU's who use that instruction set, but later 
> Intel switched to supporting AMD's instruction set and thus the PC 64 bit 
> architecture now is amd64.
>
> It'll be fun to see people asking in a few years why Oracle processors are 
> called "sparc64"...
>   
Now I come to think of it, isn't it strange apple(or IBM) never joined
in the whole 64-bits naming race spactacle.
No one ever calls a  PowerPC 970 processor a PowerPC-64, or a IBM64 or
anything like it...
Nor have I ever heard the term RISC64. Too bad we won't have to worry
about that anymore, since PowerPC is dead and Mac Pro's are now amd64(or
Intel 64 or x86-64 whichever would be the "correct" term ;-) )


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