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Google probably didn't want Sun's hardware. They have the dubious honor of having some of the largest processor design teams out there, and yet some of the slow
by Tamerlin 16y ago
Google probably didn't want Sun's hardware. They have the dubious honor of having some of the largest processor design teams out there, and yet some of the slowest processors in every generation.
I read an article about how much the DB2 folks liked Sparcs, and would MUCH rather convince their customers to buy Sun boxes than IBM, Itanium, or x86 boxes. The reason? The DB2 group charges a per-CPU license fee, similar in magnitude to Oracle's. On a POWER machine they would typically sell 4-8 licenses. On Itanium and x86, they might get to 32.
On a comparably performing Sun, 128.
- rbanffy 16y agoThe other way to read this is that DB2 licensing favors POWER.
- Tamerlin 16y agoThat depends on whether you're buying or selling DB2 licenses. If you're buying, POWER. If you're selling, Sparc.
- rbanffy 16y agoAnyway, it favors the purchase of POWER servers. IBM has to sell them to someone. Linux users won't buy them to run MySQL.
- Tamerlin 16y agoAgreed.
- ZeroGravitas 16y agoIBM owns POWER and DB2 though, so it's a cross-subsidy that introduces perverse incentives for the DB2 sales force. Fundamentally it's about licensing decisions, not a technology comparison.