David Crayford wrote: <begin extract> Of course, the data center behemoths like google, facebook, amazon et all choose to buy the cheapest bare metal commodity components with redundancy done by the software. At that scale it's the only model that makes economic sense. </end extract>
It is a model that makes economic sense in some circumstances particularly when the costs of [uncommon] failures are borne by others. It is not the only such model or even the best one in all circumstances. For, say, google one of the merits of providing notionally free services is that its SLA with its users is a very informal, relaxed one. Occasional disasters---They have occurred---are not disabling. I use google services, particularly google scholar, heavily; and I find the implicit bargain it has struck with its users for these services more than satisfactory. Its model and that bargain would not, however, satisfy me in other situations. John Gilmore, Ashland, MA 01721 - USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
