[Beowulf] MS HPC... Oh dear...

[Jim Lux]

At 10:55 PM 6/11/2006, Joe Landman wrote:


>Gerry Creager N5JXS wrote:
> > Joe, et al,
> >
> > Unfortunately, we find, time and time again, when Microsoft comes in to
> > tell us how good they're gonna do something, there's a catch.
>
>As with most companies, there is.  They are trying to sell you something. :(
>
> > Here, it remains simple to me: I can tweak the OS if I need to, and I
> > can tweak the apps.  With a Windows solution fo rmy cluster environment,
> > I certainly can't tweak the OS.  I'm half-way to dead in the water.
>
>I agree with the idea of tweaking the OS.  We do lots of tuning for our
>customers.  Usually it starts out with the right kernel and config and
>works from there.
><snip>
>If they want adopters, they need to make transitions painless.  I am not
>sure it will be painless.


What they want is adopters who don't need to make a transition.  They're 
not looking for people to convert their Linux apps to Windows (although I'm 
sure they take what they can get).  They're looking for people, who 
heretofore have not done clusters, who want to write a *new* cluster apps, 
and to do it within their familiar Windows environment.  Existing cluster 
computing folks are exactly what they don't want, because they'll ask all 
those icky questions about performance, and want to develop and manage in a 
Linux style way, the latter which is exceedingly difficult within "The MS Way".



James Lux, P.E.
Spacecraft Radio Frequency Subsystems Group
Flight Communications Systems Section
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 161-213
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109
tel: (818)354-2075
fax: (818)393-6875