Comments on: Blue Gene, Linux top supercomputing list

Open-source software and off-the-shelf hardware make strong showing among the best of the biggest.

One small inaccuracy

Your story points out that the projects 256 gigflops output of
the chip would not make the top 500 supercomputer list. The
point is, that #500 on the list is a 415 machine
cluster. Four of these chips alone would beat that machine
hands down. A 400 machine cluster of these cell processors
would easly challenge for the #1 spot on the list.

Linux

Wow.. there is Linux again, while microsof delays "windows 2003 cluster edition", the Linux already is used in the most powerful "super computers", like the blue gen, of the world.

[Rachel42]

Cost per teraflop?

I'd love to see them compared on cost per teraflop. #14 on the list
is Virginia Tech - 1100 Apple Xserve G5 Dual 2.3 GHz PowerPC
970FX processors. I believe it cost about $5,000,000 total.

It runs Mac os 10.3.7 - BSD UNIX Is there no such thing as a
Windows based supercomputer?