Apple delivered

In response to "Commentary: A grain of salt with your Apple":

Your commentary trivializing the impressive achievements of Apple's G5 in a supercomputing cluster truly misses the point: Apple delivered the third-fastest (tested) cluster in the world for $5.2 million. Here in Austin, the University of Texas tried the same thing, using specially configured Dell servers, specialized software, a custom backbone and thousands of hours with highly compensated consultants. What did they get for more than $36 billion dollars--seven times what Virginia Tech spent? The UT system didn't even place in the top 10.

The lesson: Non-pro (free) help is often better than highly paid professionals. Off-the-shelf solutions are faster, cheaper--and here--far better. And importantly: You can get less than what you pay for. Dell may have the hype and PR. But Apple delivered. And IT "professionals" who crave bigger budgets and nicer toys should take notice.

So should CNET.

Michael Sidoric
Austin, Texas