Not only has it been promoted by IBM, it has become an industry standard, even on today's powerful multi-core processors, and the x86 can be found even on today's powerful multi-core processors. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Because the CPU in the world's first PC launched by IBM in 1981 - i8088 (i8086 simplified version) also uses X86 instructions, and at the same time, the X87 chip series of mathematical coprocessors added in the computer to improve the floating point data processing ability also use X87 instructions, and the X86 instruction set and X87 instruction set will be collectively referred to as X86 instruction set in the future.

Although with the continuous development of CPU technology, Intel has successively developed newer i80386, i80486 until today's Pentium4 (hereinafter referred to as P4), Celeron, Core series, etc., but in order to ensure that the computer can continue to run various applications developed in the past to protect and inherit rich software resources, so all CPUs produced by Intel still continue to use the X86 instruction set, so its CPU still belongs to the X86 series.

In addition, in addition to Intel, AMD and Cyrix and other manufacturers have also produced CPUs that can use the x86 instruction set, because these CPUs can run all kinds of software developed for Intel CPUs, so computer industry insiders list these CPUs as Intel's CPU compatible products. Since Intel's X86 series and its compatible CPUs all use the x86 instruction set, today's huge x86 series and compatible cpu lineup has been formed. Of course, not all desktop (portable) computers use X86 series CPUs, and some servers and Macintosh machines also use Alpha61164 and PowerPC604e series CPUs from DIGITAL (digital) in the United States.

The reason why Apple adopted the PowerPC chip was because he participated in the development of this chip, but later forced by the decline of this chip and the huge investment cost, and in order to get a piece of the market from Microsoft and the possibility of obtaining the Intel X86 instruction set authorization, it became a springboard choice to enter the arms of Intel.

Because the success of the ARM architecture has opened Apple's eyes to the possibility of combining the two into one, so as to design its own desktop-class CPU. However, due to the limited R&D strength, Apple was forced to temporarily turn to Intel's x86 architecture processor, in an attempt to digest Intel's technology and expand it into a powerful desktop CPU on the basis of the ARM architecture.

And the root of all this comes from this X86 instruction set, which monopolized the market in the previous life. There is a saying in the previous life: occupy the user, you have the market, for the X86 instruction set, is very suitable, in the increasingly large user base, any company has to bow its proud head for him, even with a closed system and full of personalization Apple is no exception.

The reason why the X86 instruction set dominates the world, is not the enemy, in the final analysis, it is inseparable from the support and promotion of IBM, it is precisely because of this, under the strong intervention of IBM, there will be the emergence of compatible CPUs, and these compatible CPUs have expanded the market of X86 instruction set, and swept those CPU companies with wrong decisions into the garbage heap of history.

Many of these CPU companies with wrong decisions have excellent instruction architectures, but they have not followed the trend, or simply put, they have not carried out the continuity, and have wishfully imposed their design ideas on users, causing great inconvenience to users.

These tragedies caused by simple 'inconveniences' caused Ye Kai to think deeply. After thinking about it, Ye Kai decided to continue to use the X86 instruction set, with IBM and Microsoft in front of him to open up the market for himself, why should he be tired and work to find another way? These thankless swimmings against the current are something that all those who have a traversal that can see through the future do not take care of, and they also need to be learned!

The current X86 instruction set should be the first generation, with the continuous research and development of the CPU series, there will be the second generation, the third generation, etc., and Ye Kai only needs to register a few X86 instruction set patents in advance, and you can easily get a complete instruction set free authorization, because only 20% of these instructions have a usage rate of 80%, and Ye Kai only needs to register the patents in these 20%.

So what excuse is used to register a patent?

After all, the reduced instruction set studied by the company that Ye Kai is now forming can be said to have nothing to do with the complex instruction set, if you insist on getting involved, at least it will be in the 95th year of the previous life, Intel found a shortcut to the reduced instruction set when designing PentiumPro: Indeed, replacing ISA with RISC will destroy the compatibility of the x86 architecture, so the architecture must still use the old instructions, but it does not mean that the CPU cannot translate into other instructions after reading the x86 instructions.

Therefore, when PentiumPro gets an x86 instruction, the hardware decoder will decode a CISC x86 instruction into a number of microinstructions in line with the RISC style, therefore, in addition to starting slower at the starting line, after decoding, the code executed by the Intel chip does not have any technical disadvantages compared to PowerPC. ”

When Intel designed 8086 and 80286, the scholars who worked on the simplified instruction set had not yet published papers, and when IBM's personal computers were selling like crazy, it was too late to overturn the previous design and re-engage in the simplified instruction set.

As a result, Intel's x86 chips at that time and later were CISC, and in the 80s produced a series of computer programs written for the x86 architecture (many of which were developed using a lot of hand-written machine instructions). Unlike servers, PCs have a much wider audience and a larger variety and number of programs, so it can be difficult to move users to a new platform once they adopt a different set of instructions.

In addition, even at the cost of rewriting, compiling, and releasing applications (at that time, the Internet was still close to popularization, and most programs were mailed on floppy disks), a complete rewrite of the operating system of DOS and migration to another platform was no joke, requiring long changes and long debugging cycles. Therefore, considering the compatibility problem of the instruction set, it is impossible for the successor IBMPC and the compatible machine to be replaced with another set of instruction sets. ”

Therefore, IBM, which was the first to put forward the concept of reduced instruction set and temporarily called for the wind and rain in the personal computer market, was ultimately powerless in the face of market inertia at this stage.

In the previous life, these two systems are increasingly compatible in a two-in-one way, because the huge X86 instruction set is a headache for Intel's designers at the same time, the low-power ARM has sounded the horn to challenge it, and in this battlefield, until Ye Kai crosses, there is no real winner.

Because in a certain market, the temporary winners are still looking for a way to the future in the process of compatibility and compromise.