A good point, but while Map Reduce is not new I feel it emphasized clarity and simplicity (at least for the problem of sorting), so that is probably why it mark

A good point, but while Map Reduce is not new I feel it emphasized clarity and simplicity (at least for the problem of sorting), so that is probably why it markets easier than MPI or a database. I wrote a bit on this point some time ago: http://www.win-vector.com/blog/2009/01/map-reduce-a-good-idea/ http://www.win-vector.com/blog/2009/01/map-reduce-a-good-ide...