Jeremy Stein - Journal
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SQL Server Performance Benchmarks
I’m not allowed to tell you how slow SQL Server is.
Seriously.
To install Visual C# Express, I had to agree to the following:
SQL SERVER BENCHMARK TESTING
You must obtain Microsoft’s prior written approval to disclose to a third party the results of any benchmark test of the SQL Server software that accompanies this software.
They must have included that clause because, while SQL Server is the fastest database, it doesn’t do well on benchmarks. Kind of like your barber’s kids are really smart but they just do poorly on tests.
Can you imagine Google forbidding search results comparisons? Or Amazon forbidding price comparisons? Or Toyota forbidding reliability comparisons?
You use Google because when you compared their results to what you were getting from Yahoo (or Lycos, or God forbid MSN), you found you got better results from Google. You shop at Amazon because, although you’ve looked for lower prices, you found it’s usually cheapest at Amazon. You bought that Camry (or Prius, or Gore forbid Highlander) because your research showed that Toyotas last longer.
These companies are all vulnerable to misleading benchmarks. Yahoo has better search results for “elliptical machines”. Buy.com has a better price on Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul III. Your coworker had a Volkswagen that lasted forever. For Google, Amazon and Toyota, the best way to combat unflattering “benchmarks” is simply to encourage more of them.
I’ve never performed a benchmark on SQL Server, but I don’t think I need to. Microsoft has made it pretty clear what kind of results they expect.
One Comment
- Shannon Costello replied:
Ha ha ha on “Gore forbid”.
March 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am. Permalink.
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