I wish I had your problems:)
However, I will tell you this:
I have known three people who worked at Microsoft, some better than others, and only one liked his job, the others tended to use phrases like "slave drivers" and "sweat shop".
I have known only 2 people who worked at Google, and both loved their jobs.
The question you really have to ask, sicne you have such great opportunities, is this:
Given the reputation and actions of each company, which is the type of company you wish to work for?
...than anything else, of a lot of things said previously, except the first line:
Determine what you need, to get what you have to do done.
A three-tiered design will likely give you the most flexibility to solve the problem in any number of ways, plus give you the ability to upgrade layers independently if bottlenecks are found.
As someone mentioned, you obviously need a big infrastructure update. At the very least, get into gigabit ethernet.
Put your database on, at least, a MP machine, such as a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo, or a small cluster of such machines (although for 10k transactions I can't see a need for more than one). This machine is isolated from user machines by the middle layer.
Put your business logic on a small cluster of inexpensive machines that have direct access to the database and each other. The database can respond to requests from this layer, and load balancing or simple round-robin transaction allocation between the machines can be used to employ each unit efficiently.
Requests could come not only from the daily batch allocation, but also be processed in real-time from any terminal, spanning the spectrum from dumb terminals through PCs to web pages accessed from anywhere, as long as your security issues are properly evaluated and accounted for.
I doubt grid computing will give you any benefit over this as it would not give you one central data repository, just a bunch of number crunching machines which you specifically said would not help. Grid computing is a number crunching solution, not a transaction processing solution.
Microsoft was warned about giving everyone "root" access, and about raw sockets, and many other deeply rooted problems in their operating systems, repeatedly. It's only taken them Over Twenty Years to listen.
Waaaaay back in the early 90's, games like Duke Nukem started appearing in episodes. In fact, I am quite sure this was a practice common back in the late 80's too if not earlier, but I don't have the time to track it all down.
Where is the sense of history anymore? Why does each generation think they "invented" everything?
This is not new at all.
It is less the creators of the works than the marketers of the works that are constantly pursuing these cases, The money-grubbing record companies that rip off both the artists AND the consumers. How much do you think the artists who created the works that are relevant to this case are going to receive out of the damages levied against the plaintiff? Precious little compared to the gluttonous record companies.
Wow, hack into your bank account within 9 attempts, using a keylogger? Amazing. Amazing how stupid a person would have to be to take so many attempts to get into someone's bank account *WITH* a keylogger.
As long as Maya runs on it, I will be happy. I will be able to gain some room back in my house, as it will replace several existing boxes with a single one, possessing far in excess of my existing total processing power. I don't care if I can get more power for the same money, if it means losing my living room. This box will give me room to put my treadmill back up so I can burn off the pot belly I have developed sitting at a desk 10-14h a day:)
XP makes a great operating system for running DirectX games on, so you can leave your work computers busily working for you. Of course, there are games that will actually run on Linux for when you just have to goof off while working, and your game machine is unavailable due to being 2 feet too far away, or spousal oversight, or whatever 8^D.
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I wish I had your problems :)
However, I will tell you this:
I have known three people who worked at Microsoft, some better than others, and only one liked his job, the others tended to use phrases like "slave drivers" and "sweat shop".
I have known only 2 people who worked at Google, and both loved their jobs.
The question you really have to ask, sicne you have such great opportunities, is this:
Given the reputation and actions of each company, which is the type of company you wish to work for?
...than anything else, of a lot of things said previously, except the first line: Determine what you need, to get what you have to do done. A three-tiered design will likely give you the most flexibility to solve the problem in any number of ways, plus give you the ability to upgrade layers independently if bottlenecks are found. As someone mentioned, you obviously need a big infrastructure update. At the very least, get into gigabit ethernet. Put your database on, at least, a MP machine, such as a Core Duo or Core 2 Duo, or a small cluster of such machines (although for 10k transactions I can't see a need for more than one). This machine is isolated from user machines by the middle layer. Put your business logic on a small cluster of inexpensive machines that have direct access to the database and each other. The database can respond to requests from this layer, and load balancing or simple round-robin transaction allocation between the machines can be used to employ each unit efficiently. Requests could come not only from the daily batch allocation, but also be processed in real-time from any terminal, spanning the spectrum from dumb terminals through PCs to web pages accessed from anywhere, as long as your security issues are properly evaluated and accounted for. I doubt grid computing will give you any benefit over this as it would not give you one central data repository, just a bunch of number crunching machines which you specifically said would not help. Grid computing is a number crunching solution, not a transaction processing solution.
Microsoft was warned about giving everyone "root" access, and about raw sockets, and many other deeply rooted problems in their operating systems, repeatedly. It's only taken them Over Twenty Years to listen.
Waaaaay back in the early 90's, games like Duke Nukem started appearing in episodes. In fact, I am quite sure this was a practice common back in the late 80's too if not earlier, but I don't have the time to track it all down. Where is the sense of history anymore? Why does each generation think they "invented" everything? This is not new at all.
It is less the creators of the works than the marketers of the works that are constantly pursuing these cases, The money-grubbing record companies that rip off both the artists AND the consumers. How much do you think the artists who created the works that are relevant to this case are going to receive out of the damages levied against the plaintiff? Precious little compared to the gluttonous record companies.
Wow, hack into your bank account within 9 attempts, using a keylogger? Amazing. Amazing how stupid a person would have to be to take so many attempts to get into someone's bank account *WITH* a keylogger.
Since when did website performance depend on processing power? A P-II pure file server can saturate a 100Base-T LAN.
I would imagine a nuclear detonation would have a much lower dB rating * snix *
...and besides, imagine the bragging rights from having 230teraflops peak under your desk...almost as good as one...nevermind ;p
As long as Maya runs on it, I will be happy. I will be able to gain some room back in my house, as it will replace several existing boxes with a single one, possessing far in excess of my existing total processing power. I don't care if I can get more power for the same money, if it means losing my living room. This box will give me room to put my treadmill back up so I can burn off the pot belly I have developed sitting at a desk 10-14h a day :)
XP makes a great operating system for running DirectX games on, so you can leave your work computers busily working for you. Of course, there are games that will actually run on Linux for when you just have to goof off while working, and your game machine is unavailable due to being 2 feet too far away, or spousal oversight, or whatever 8^D.