[rescue] Cray J90s

[Dave McGuire]

On June 12, Joshua D. Boyd wrote:
> >   Try calling them up and asking them.  The first words you'll hear are
> > "what serial number please?"  And when you give it to them, they'll
> > ask you if you're such-and-such and the CIA or wherever your Cray came
> > from, and when you say no, they'll tell you to pound sand.  And guess
> > what?  Then they know who you are, that you have one of their
> > machines, and that you likely have an [unlicensed/illegal/hugely
> > expensive] OS load for your machine.
> 
> Are they still charging so much for the OS now that they are offering
> cheaper hardware?

  Cheaper hardware?  Like the T-90 and the SV1, starting at ten times
the price of a J90 and going up from there?  Let's put it this
way....if Cray is now selling cheaper vector machines than the J90,
I'm unaware of it.  And my workstation ranks pretty high in Cray's web
server access stats.

> Anyway, so, just because you called them doesn't mean you have the OS.
> Probably the reason you called to find the OS after all.

  If you called them and asked them how to boot the OS, is what I
meant.

> And, (entering RANT mode), why the hell do companies who charge millions
> of dollars care if some hobbiest wants to bring the machine back to life?
> It's not like anyone is going to pay for a license for a J90 once it has
> been in the hands of a hobbiest (and thus probably is no longer elligible
> for a service contract).  IBM is another company that is rather prickish
> here.

  I dunno...I've sold two, both fully licensed now.

  Trouble is, these machines are too recent, and not slow enough to be
considered "hobbiest curiosities".  ELs, sure...but not J90s.

> So, which category do your machines fall into?

  I'll never tell. ;)

         -Dave McGuire