[Info-vax] Where to locate software

[lawrencedo99 at gmail.com]

On Saturday, June 11, 2016 at 8:42:38 PM UTC+12, johnwa... at yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> Google Facebook etc may not make systems themselves but they do
> specify them and they do influence the design.

Funny you should say that. Facebook, in particular, has published its “Open Compute” high-scale-server hardware specs for others to adopt <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/12/open_compute_for_facebook_size_cost/>.

> The volume systems they buy from outfits like Lenovo and others are not
> necesarily the 'volume' systems available to the rest of the market...

Yes, they are off-the-shelf parts, for lowest cost in every respect except one, as I previously pointed out.

> There isn't room in the market for lots of outfits the size of Google.

In a sense, you are right. For every new entrant to the Fortune 500, some existing player has to leave.

The average life of a company on that list is now down to 18 years.