> I've known about the differences between s390 arch and pc > arch task wise > (there is a RedPiece or paper on the subject I believe), and > have always > been a little leery when in "sell mode" because I felt that a > rack of blade > servers could handle graphics rendering and the like better > than the s390.
And you are absolutely correct on that feeling. That's one of the reasons why grid computing is so important -- the idea of applications residing only on one platform is one that limits a lot of interesting applications. > Couple that with a belief that web apps are generally headed > for more and > more complex visuals and you can picture my worry. See above. > But, I > have no problem > touting the strong points of the s390/VM/Linux combo that others have > already mentioned, it's just that in the back of my mind I > wonder if we > will we still be competitive 3 or 5 years down the road. For rendering, it's already a lost cause. 390 is not in that market -- price per MIPS is just not good enough. However focusing the application on "right tool, right job" (raw MIPS on cheap Intel, storage management and I/O optimization on 390 or similar environments) and writing deliberately for that environment is where we have something to say. Best of both worlds. That's the story we have to tell. -- db
