[Gllug] Sun hardware/firewall memory

[Bruce Richardson]

On Tue, Dec 21, 2004 at 04:12:56PM +0000, Ben wrote:
> I think your last comment is telling - "in the old days". Are we agreed
> that the sun is setting? Maybe due to a change in thinking (bad hardware
> is acceptable, just pile 'em high + sell 'em cheap)

Once you get beyond a certain scale (and it's not that high), bad
hardware isn't acceptable.  The extra administration load caused by the
crappy PC architecture becomes as much of a pain as the extra load that
Windows causes.  We make extensive use of x86 blades in IBM
Bladecenters, because the extra capabilities provided by the Bladecenter
firmware mitigate some of the pain of administering a large number of
x86 boxes but then that does reduce the price advantage of x86.  We're
seriously considering moving to Linux on Power architecture, even so.
The base price may be higher but the design and quality is much better.

x86 can look cheap but using it above a certain level requires
re-solving problems that other architectures have already addressed.
Proprietary platforms also suffer less from the legacy problem that
curses Intel: they have a smaller number of (richer and more skilled, on
average) customers and developers who can be herded through a "let's
reimplement this bit from scratch" adventure with some hope of success.

I don't think Linux would have been possible without the accidental
mongrel that is the x86 PC: the availability of a cheap, commodity
architecture that nobody really owns was invaluable to the development
of the OS.  OTOH, if the spread of Lintel boxes seriously erodes the
market for high-end platforms like SPARC and Power without offering
anything as good, this will not have been an overwhelmingly positive
event.

-- 
Bruce

I unfortunately do not know how to turn cheese into gold.
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