Maybe I'm old. I never used to think that an application that is able to use my whole ram is optimized. It evokes exactly the opposite impression, indeed.

I think I understand what you mean, but the gut reaction is that one.

Yeah, I am really old, after all.

Edit: let me explain. Something that is able to use the whole space of a flat memory model is way less sophisticated than something that is able to deal with a complex memory hierarchy. Our machines are indeed a complex pyramid of different subsystems with varying bandwidth and latency characteristics. A program that is able to embrace the inherent hierarchical nature of our machines (or multi-node systems) is way more "optimized", according to my sensibility.