🚀 go-pugleaf

>[People still use mainframes for very large databases; PCs and file or
database servers will squeeze that out]

Maybe and maybe not.  I've seen plausible claims that when you're handing
data bases, 10 systems of capacity N are no substitute for one system of
capacity 10N, mostly because the slower systems hold each lock 10 times as
long so you get considerably more lock contention.

Is there any reason to think this isn't true?  I realize that for slowly
changing data, e.g. schedules and fares in an airline system, you can
replicate and partition the data, but they do that on mainframes, too.

Regards,
John Levine, johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|world}!iecc!johnl