Distributed Systems Debate

Comments debate the true definition and characteristics of distributed systems, often referencing Leslie Lamport's quote on failures and critiquing whether examples like the discussed article truly involve distributed computing challenges.

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e.g HA L1 AWS WebSocket TLA SOA DS MP brainyquote.com distributed distributed systems systems failure problems hard problems computing monkey computer concurrent

Sample Comments

wging Jun 5, 2024 View on HN

That's a distributed system in the sense he's referring to.

pphysch Jan 6, 2025 View on HN

Isn't that distributed systems in a nutshell?

mushi Feb 7, 2017 View on HN

isn't that because they are not distributed systems?

bobek Oct 13, 2021 View on HN

I am not sure about the "distributed systems" throughout the article. Basically none of the examples is really tight to being a distributed system.

nikanj Jul 22, 2019 View on HN

"A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn't even know existed can render your own computer unusable." -Leslie Lamport

sagevoid Jun 7, 2020 View on HN

An intro-level post about why we bother with distributed systems.

kiallmacinnes Jun 14, 2015 View on HN

The parent comment was certainly talking about distributed systems!

This seems really esoteric to distributed systems...

qaq Aug 31, 2025 View on HN

the benefits of don't write a distributed system unless you really have to are also very real

keithalewis Mar 18, 2021 View on HN

A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn't even know existed can render your own computer unusable. - Leslie Lamport