| It does matter! * An open CPU ISA without the burdens of licenses means that more manufacturers can produce chips. This leads to healthy competition and more alternatives. * Open designs make it easier for everyone to put together awesome new products. * Simplicity and starting over with something that is not bloated means simpler compilers. No legacy means a clean design. * Open source means that open source software could be recompiled for it. It is just another target so it does not really matter, unless you are running closed source software. If you are using open source software, the cost of switching to RISC-V is very small. Regarding your argument about as long as there is one turing complete chip family, nothing matters: This argument is similiar to saying that since Windows exist and actually does work, and in theory does the same thing as Linux, then Linux does not need to exist. This argument is just moot. There are lots of arguments for running Linux instead of Windows, very much the same way that there are lots of arguments for running RISC-V instead of x86/ARM. In the long run, RISC-V will take over, just like Linux once took over. That Moore's Law has essentially ended probably also means that something like this probably is worth focusing on. It makes sense regarding to economy and optimization to redesign the CPUs now when we have reached this end of Moore's Law. |