[sldev] Static universal memory limits are operationally non-scalable

[Carlo Wood]

This is a new argument that comes on top of the argument that in the new
system only 10% of the memory resources will be used on average.

Indeed, since the memory reserved for avatars is going to be fixed per
avatar (so that you can teleport unless the sim is full), it will be
impossible to raise that limit in the future.

Morgaine puts it more technically, and she's right. It is also for this
reason a very bad choice.

"64 kilobytes ought to be enough for anybody" -- Bill Gates

On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 07:11:39AM +0000, Morgaine wrote:
> Defining a single memory limit that applies universally regardless of the
> equipment on which it is running is operationally non-scalable.
> 
> A single universal limit implies that the limit cannot be raised as old
> equipment is replaced with new, until such a moment when ALL the old equipment
> has been replaced with upgraded equipment.  As the equipment population N
> increases and the interval between whole-population upgrades increases with it,
> the utilization factor of newly installed resources drops to a worst case of 1/
> N, and an average of N/2N = 1/2 over the upgrade cycle.
> 
> What this means for the provider is that effective resource costs are double
> the actual resource costs because 1/2 of resource upgrades are wasted.  What it
> means for the consumer is that available resources lag installed resources for
> an ever-lengthening period of time as the system grows.
> 
> The above applies to all resource types that improve as technology improves,
> not just the memory limits that we are discussing here.
> 
> Static resource allocation should almost never be used for delivery of dynamic
> resources, as a matter of principle, because the resulting resource utilization
> is so poor.
> 
> Morgaine.

-- 
Carlo Wood <carlo at alinoe.com>