Following Paul's example, this is a warning that this is inappropriate for
the list topic, hit "D" now 
I think that the MP HyperSPARC machines and in particular the new Ultras
are doing Just Fine performance wise and legacy code wise. I've been
working with them on a daily basis for a year and a half at Axil, which
makes more Sparcs than anyone except Sun, and we keep pushing them further
and further. Alphas have a lot going for them, but don't write SPARC off.
It's made up its performance deficit from the early 90s.
-george