> There's an expectation that web platforms can accomodate near-automatic horizontal scaling with maybe just a couple config-file tweaks. That expectation is unrealistic on any platform for which you can easily hire developers.
I can attest to this. I did consulting work for Match.com a few years ago back when they ran around 20 million uniques/month. They are a .NET shop here in Dallas, TX where you can throw a stone and likely hit a .NET developer.
After a few years, their stack looked nothing like a typical ASP.NET stack. It included things like custom database replication, memcached, config pulled out of files and stored in actual code, and lots of other things that went way off the beaten path from standard practices for .NET. New developers often had to learn "The Match Way" before they could be effective. Many things that worked with typical .NET enterprise apps would break down spectacularly when massive scale was thrown at them.
I can attest to this. I did consulting work for Match.com a few years ago back when they ran around 20 million uniques/month. They are a .NET shop here in Dallas, TX where you can throw a stone and likely hit a .NET developer.
After a few years, their stack looked nothing like a typical ASP.NET stack. It included things like custom database replication, memcached, config pulled out of files and stored in actual code, and lots of other things that went way off the beaten path from standard practices for .NET. New developers often had to learn "The Match Way" before they could be effective. Many things that worked with typical .NET enterprise apps would break down spectacularly when massive scale was thrown at them.