wbmw, actually, it depends on how efficient you want your EPIC code. A simple port in the way you described can be done, but it does not take advantage of EPIC optimizations based on the order of instructions. Without hand coding of critical paths you get a reliable but inefficient code with parts of the CPU stalling because instruction queues get underruns.
This is nonsense. Existing Intel and HP compilers perform robust and effective code transformations and optimizations beyond the capabilties of the majority of asm programmers to readily understand let alone code correctly.
I have not read anything in connection with Itanium2 to see that the compilers have improved noticably.
With current production compilers Itanium 2 gets higher integer and FP SPECbase2k scores than any other 0.18 um Al bulk CMOS processor, even the venerable out-of-order execution Alpha EV68.