Let's face it, as nice as it sounds, very, very few developers code specifically to maximize processor performance. That's a big part of the reason why processors have had to keep making such performance leaps.

There are two primary reasons for this lack of performance based coding:

1) it's often cheaper (and faster) to write sloppy code and just add lots of processors

2) There is a profound lack of tools and education designed specifically for performance coding, especially concerning multi-core processors.

RapidMind and the Google tools are nice, but nowhere near what is needed to maximize multi-core processing. As multi core proliferates the first player to the game with true development tools to natively support several cores will make a fortune.

"Of course, you knew that already, since Google is primarily in the ad and search business."

I came across that earlier statement on the Peakstream link, Ashlee, and have thought that Google are much more like and therefore a very direct threat to Microsoft if they are a search and ad business.

It is a nice business model whereby the customer/researcher searches for knowledge thus revealing what may be new knowledge and the business then advertises and monetises it ....which I can't help feel is like IP pilfering in the very lucrative extreme cases of search/inquiry/sharing with the SAPs getting nothing for their diligent efforts.

Of course, such a covert/clandestine operation would be very susceptible to malicious code, specifically designed to expose it as a simple devious poacher rather than skilled gamekeeper.

It is a sad universal truth of men, all too often, all too often confirmed, that power corrupts and no one can deny who are seen as being powerful and therefore quite liable to a natural human condition.

Raheim,

I think you have cause and effect back to front: bad coding practices stem from the fact that processors have become ever more powerful and cheaper at the same time. Think back to the days of the ZX80 - we could build entire word processor programmes that ran in 1k ram on a 3.5MHz(?) processor.

Integrated circuits have become more powerful more as side effect of competition than an immediate need for the raw power. The speed races of the last decade were a marketing ploy (loosely linked to 'Moore's Law') rather than any inherent need for your wordprocessor to run any faster.