Re: Microsoft destroys TPC-C records!

In comp.unix.aix Frank Hubeny <fhubeny_at_ntsource.com> wrote:
> I heard about a half year ago that Oracle was offering a reward of a
> million dollars to anyone who could prove that SQLServer did not run 100
> times slower than Oracle.

> At the time I heard this, I suspected that SQLServer might be at most 10
> times slower, but the only way for Microsoft to win such a challenge
> would be to actually score faster than Oracle.

The crux of the challenge was a single, fairly complex SQL query, not a vague notion like "this complex piece of software is 100 times slower than this other equally complex piece of software." That is, the test was of the capability of the database to handle a seemingly difficult operation quickly. It was a test of the prudence of the data structures and algorithms of the database software. That someone can put together a cluster with three times the number of processors (which interestingly doesn't even *double* the performance of the IBM S80) to make things seem zippy doesn't change the unmet status of Oracle's original challenge.

Regards,

Nicholas Dronen
ndronen_at_frii.com Received on Sun Feb 20 2000 - 12:24:12 CST