Dew,
We should be doing this on the TMTA board, but perhaps just one more message on GLW won't hurt.
I do understand basics of VLIW, as I studied it for my PhD qualifying exams. I still worry a little bit if hardware advances can keep undermining the CMS advantage (as with Multiflow), but I think this second time around it may not be as easy for the purely hardware folks. I am placing a scarily huge bet for me (my largest ever, and likely to be never repeated again), and keeping my fingers crossed.
Regards,
rv