Your Distributed System Is Slower Than a Laptop
Summary
This CodeGood piece argues that distributed systems are not always faster or cheaper, illustrating with a case study of a mid-market SaaS pipeline that processes 2 billion events daily. It shows that compute, data transfer, platform engineering, and incident costs often exceed the cost of a single powerful machine, and urges baseline measurement before pursuing distribution. The article also discusses organizational incentives and historical context, concluding that the laptop often wins unless distribution is truly justified by data.