Cooperation and Competition Behind the Scenes in the RISC-V Community

Moore's Lobby: Where engineers talk all about circuits

Over the course of his fascinating career, Mark Himelstein has worked on several significant computing technologies at historic companies like MIPS and Sun Microsystems. He has also worked as a consultant in various roles that include architect, VP of engineering, and advisor. However, RISC-V may have a greater impact on the computing field and our world than any of those previous efforts.

Himelstein gives us an insiders view on the open standard process that is often “cooperation and competition, simultaneously.”

“The thing that keeps us as a community is the effort in the software ecosystem. Nobody wants to really go off and go on their own. They just don't want to do it. It's just too costly. I don't care if you're the biggest company in the world or the tiniest.”

Listen in on this episode of the Moore’s Lobby podcast as Daniel Bogdanoff and Himelstein chat about a wide range of interesting topics that include:

-How Himelstein encourages people to get involved with RISC-V by telling them to not just complain about something, but join in to help make it better.

-The significance of vector operations for computing and how those advantages may soon be extended to matrix operations within the ISA.

-Three major things RISC-V is currently working on for future release.