Actually, consistency does have a performance cost (i.e., the throughput you get from a given setup) but it does not have to hinder scalability (the ability to grow the maximum throughput by adding extra hardware). Scalaris offers transactional consistency, for example. If you prefer using an existing no-SQL database then you can impose transactional consistency on top of it without breaking scalability properties.

Disclaimer: I co-authored the second link of this post.

> Honest question, is Minix compatable with Linux or something? Or do they just sound the same by coincidence? Or is it more like your BSD's in comparision to Linux?

Actually, Minix and Linux are derivatives of Unix, which explains why both names sound similar to Unix.