Bad journalism
I'm disappointed of Reuters, Bloomberg, and others, for reproducing this piece of news uncritically, specially the 30% slowdown claim.
While The Register has a very specific audience, and I'm sure among us everyone understands that a 30% slowdown for one application may mean nothing for others (and even a speed up), Reuters and Bloomberg, among others, should know better than to quote a 30% slowdown without saying it comes from a single PostgreSQL developer, running a very rudimentary speed test. And which % of apps that run on Intel chips fits reasonably well that description and that environment, so how could possibly that figure be authoritative? I'd say more: how could it possibly mean anything at all and be newsworthy?
The Register's article's well within their own "flair" and kind of journalism and that's ok. But for others to quote it carelessly without double-checking with enough qualified experts (who may have to take time, perhaps months, to investigate the seriousness of this and the actual consequences, speed and otherwise) is irresponsible.
I can only surmise the people responsible for airing this news at those other outlets are techies, and aren't better than the average The Register readership and not mindful of the consequences. In other words their job's too big for them. They should probably write for The Register and not for the global mainstream news. Ditto for the editor in charge of those outlets: allowing this to make front page news is IMO careless and irresponsible.
The Register unscathed.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
