Who the heck is Bill Gates?   Clueless in Currier

Dear Clueless,

William Gates III is chair of Microsoft Corp., the world's largest personal computer software company (IBM's software operations are the largest in the world, but the bulk of their business is in mainframe programs).

In terms of stock market value, he is the richest person in the U.S. (which means he is probably one of the 20 richest people in the world). He is 37 years old, married with no children, and known to be a nerdy workaholic.

By the way, he was in Currier House before leaving Harvard to lead Microsoft. I'm not sure which entry he lived in, but definitely not the ten-man suite.

Dear PC Corner,

What is the Power PC?   Also Clueless, in Mather

Dear Clueless 2,

The PowerPC refers to a family of microprocessors--the "brain" of personal computers and workstations--made in a joint effort by IBM, Apple and Motorola. It implements the so-called POWER architecture--how the microprocessor itself works as well as how it interfaces with the other components of a computer--originally developed by IBM and used in its successful RS/6000 series.

The only PowerPC model currently available is the 50MHz 601, whose internal crystal clock ticks 50 million times per second. The PowerPC adheres to the RISC, or Reduced Instruction Set Computing, standard, which aims at achieving high computing speed by having a small number of machine instructions that can be executed quickly.

Last month IBM rolled out a line of workstations based on the PowerPC 601 chip (another term for microprocessor). While the chip itself costs only half as much as a Pentium chip from Intel Corp., the cost of the IBM machines is driven up by power features and priced toward the workstation market. Rumor has it that both IBM and Apple will release PowerPC-based personal computers next year.

The best selling point of the PowerPC is not its raw speed--after all, Digital Electric Corporation's Alpha can now run four times as fast, at 200MHz--but its promise to run a host of different operating systems. With backing from both Apple and IBM, PowerPC computers will be able to run programs written for the Macintosh, MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2, UNIX and other platforms, although such compatibilities must be provided through software.

Readers: Keep those letters coming!

Haibin Jiu '94, associate photography chair of The Crimson, is the former president of the Harvard Computer Society. His column appears Tuesday.