> UDP based protocols (like QUIC) are the way forward.
Sure, but QUIC was written by experts who probably had been burned in the past by thinking they could just throw away TCP and profit. Things like slow start and congestion control are there for really good reasons and you can't just casually toss them away like anachronisms. Modern networks are really big, but ultimately things like switch buffers are still finite.
Rolling your own UDP based protocol is kind of like rolling your own cryptography.
Amazon in 2001 was using lots of UDP on top of Tibco Rendezvous when I got there and it absolutely melted the fuck down in Christmas of 2003. All of the FAANG-class companies have probably rediscovered this kind of lesson independently, maybe multiple times. I certainly remember chuckling at some Facebook press release in ~2007 when they were bragging about switching to UDP and wonder how that turned out.
Sure, but QUIC was written by experts who probably had been burned in the past by thinking they could just throw away TCP and profit. Things like slow start and congestion control are there for really good reasons and you can't just casually toss them away like anachronisms. Modern networks are really big, but ultimately things like switch buffers are still finite.
Rolling your own UDP based protocol is kind of like rolling your own cryptography.
Amazon in 2001 was using lots of UDP on top of Tibco Rendezvous when I got there and it absolutely melted the fuck down in Christmas of 2003. All of the FAANG-class companies have probably rediscovered this kind of lesson independently, maybe multiple times. I certainly remember chuckling at some Facebook press release in ~2007 when they were bragging about switching to UDP and wonder how that turned out.