Re: getting the most of out multi-core systems for repeated complex SELECT statements

On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 4:57 PM, <gnuoytr(at)rcn(dot)com> wrote:
> Time for my pet meme to wiggle out of its hole (next to Phil's, and a day later).  For PG to prosper in the future, it has to embrace the multi-core/processor/SSD machine at the query level.  It has to.  And it has to because the Big Boys already do so, to some extent, and they've realized that the BCNF schema on such machines is supremely efficient.  PG/MySql/OSEngineOfChoice will get left behind simply because the efficiency offered will be worth the price.

this kind of view on what postgres community has to do can only be
true if postgres has no intention to support "cloud environments" or
any kind of hardware virtualization.
while i'm sure targeting specific hardware features can greatly
improve postgres performance it should be an option not a requirement.
forcing users to have specific hardware is basically telling users
that you can forget about using postgres in amazon/rackspace cloud
environments (or any similar environment).
i'm sure that a large part of postgres community doesn't care about
"cloud environments" (although this is only my personal impression)
but if plan is to disable postgres usage in such environments you are
basically loosing a large part of developers/companies targeting
global internet consumers with their online products.
cloud environments are currently the best platform for internet
oriented developers/companies to start a new project or even to
migrate from custom hardware/dedicated data center.

> Much as it pains me to say it, but the MicroSoft approach to software: write to the next generation processor and force users to upgrade, will be the winning strategy for database engines.  There's just way too much to gain.

it can arguably be said that because of this approach microsoft is
losing ground in most of their businesses/strategies.

Aljosa Mohorovic