Posted by Kenneth Farmer, Tuesday May 16 2006 @ 11:33PM EDT
ClusterMonkey.net: Some recent postings on the Beowulf Mailing List (Look for "Why I want a Microsoft cluster...") discussed the entry of Microsoft into the HPC cluster space. I found the discussions interesting and well informed. I did however, take a step back to look at some fundamentals that define the HPC (High Performance Computing) market and came to the conclusion that before anyone "takes over anything", there are some issues that need to be addressed.
The fundamental issue is that doing HPC is hard. There is no easy way around and no shortcuts. Practitioners need to roll up their sleeves and work to get the performance and results they desire. Unless Microsoft has some magic, all the corporate Windows goodness will not help them in this arena. Just like everybody else they will have to roll up their sleeves. And, by the way, money cannot necessarily buy magic. For the record, that is all I'm going to say about Microsoft because, in my opinion, the things holding back HPC have little to do with the plumbing and a lot to do with the fundamentals. If you are looking for an anti-Microsoft rant, this is wrong article. Please stop reading.
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