
Is D-Wave a Quantum Computer? - jonbaer
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326592
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planck01
As far as I know people do not doubt D-Wave's machine is a quantum computer
because it is adiabatic instead of the general kind, but because there are
doubts that it speeds anything up at all compared to normal computers. If it
doesn't, then it might not even be an adiabatic quantum machine.

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duaneb
How is it not clear which is more performant?

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planck01
You can read more about that here: [http://phys.org/news/2014-06-independent-
group-d-wave-quantu...](http://phys.org/news/2014-06-independent-group-d-wave-
quantum-speedup.html)

Scientists claim is that a previous positive comparison was unfair because,
"problems designed to run well on the D-Wave Systems were run without
optimizing on conventional machines"

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mabbo
Short version: It's not a universal quantum computer, but it's a device using
quantum mechanical effects to solve a specific type of problems faster than
conventional computers can.

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acc54321
I hasn't been proven to be any faster than conventional machines under fair
testing. It is unclear that it has any algorithmic advantage as of yet.

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jonbaer
I think it takes a broader definition of "computing" to really answer the
question in the end ...

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yellowapple
Betteridge's law of headlines strikes again.

It's like what teachers and cops tell you in elementary school to do if
someone offers you drugs: "JUST SAY NO".

