I've heard this song before...
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| caitlyn Jul 06, 2009 3:31 PM EDT |
I've heard this song before only it was called network computing. It was going to rule the universe. Oracle was the grand poohbah and cheerleader at that time. It never happened. Next it was called thin client computing. It was going to rule this universe and several others. It was like the return of the mainframe all over again just bigger and encompassing every PC user on the planet. IBM was the grand poohbah and cheerleader along with lots of other big companies. It never happened. Now the same old song is trotted out again under the "cloud computing" name. Amazon and SGI (formerly Rackspace, let's get the name right) and Google are all sharing the title of grand poohbah and cheerleader. They tell us FOSS users that this is our chance in the sun to get rid of the evil Microsoft while the data miners at Google really want to BE the new Microsoft. Guess what? I'm not buying. RMS is right about "cloud computing". I'm no fan of RMS and I often disagree with him but he is right on the money this time, or should I say right about the money and who wants it. I am not about to let large corporations have my personal data and manage my data security. I trust them about as far as I can throw the large corporate headquarters of any of the companies I've named. |
| tracyanne Jul 06, 2009 5:24 PM EDT |
Well said caitlyn. Cloud Computing == More same old same old |
| hkwint Jul 06, 2009 5:54 PM EDT |
Ah, the migration from PC's to UC's, that'd be from Personal Computers to Unpersonal Computers. Let's contemplate that trend. What I noticed: In my country (and some of the neigbouring countries), the trend is to decentralize energy generation. You don't want to be dependent on one single large network and company, because if it fails, there's a power outage and whole the country (or state) may suffer from it. If the energy was generated in your own hood, this saves 'distribution costs', and if your neighbourhood fails, you can import energy from another neigbourhood close to you. Some big power outages already showed the problems of one centralized large net. DNS already showed the advantages of decentralization. The problems with ICANN showed the problems with centralization. Cloud Computing is going exactly in the opposite way, it seems. But does it really? With energy, the trend with decentralization is, you're not dependent on corporations anymore. Your energy comes from your neigbour our goes to your neighbour. A smart grid and smart power-measurements are needed to calculate how many you owe to your neigbours and vice versa. With computing, there's also decentralization: It's an elastic cloud, meaning it's decentralized as well, but you still rely on a company. This happened to the energy-networks some twenty years ago - at least in my country (and in California as I type) : New infrastructure was made to make sure if one power plant fails, customers will receive power from another plant, maybe via an alternative route; and new capacity is added if needed. Some 'smart logic' in the net also makes sure there's no overstraining of the network. Same for DNS; also some decades ago. So, what's the future? Looking at energy, I'd say it might indeed be 'redundantly saving your data in encrypted chunks on the PC's of other people', the cloud will not be company servers, but PC's. However, the electricity net already shows to make sure this can happen, new infrastructure is needed, and some smart meters as well. That will take some time. |
| caitlyn Jul 06, 2009 6:18 PM EDT |
Hans: I don't disagree that you've hit on a cloud model that could work. What Amazon, Google, Oracle, and SGI are pushing isn't that. It is very much the old centralized model. Then it becomes all the simpler for them to put their data mining tools to work on your personal data and mine. |
| hkwint Jul 06, 2009 8:46 PM EDT |
You may or you may not know GIMPS (I knew it before I knew what GIMP was; before I started using free software!)
It shows crowdsourcing the clowd works on a small scale in a limited environment. It was not elastic of course, because it was impossible to add extra 'volunteers' on demand.
The reason people were willing to donate was that joining was like buying a lot in the lottery, and you might win $10.000. Maybe that's a nice idea for crowdsourced cloud computing. Let's call it 3C. 'crowdsourcing' is another trend today; though for those familiar with Free Software it's not much new beyond being ordered by companies instead of FSF). Those installing the 3C-'client' and donating CPU / hd-space receiving a (lottery-) lot with a chance to win an amount of money. Such a lottery system limits the amount of transactions between bank accounts. Hmm, thinking of it, it's quite a nice idea actually. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jul 07, 2009 5:28 PM EDT |
Regarding cloud-based apps, I've been a huge Google Apps cheerleader in the past, but by now I expected Google Docs to be a whole lot more functional. It's not. It's great for simple documents w/o a lot of formatting, but any attempt to do anything "complicated" is just a prescription for frustration. If and when MS gets its Office suite in the cloud, that could drain away a whole lot of Google business in the enterprise. I still believe that the near future is all about client OSes and applications that interact with the cloud, i.e. with cloud-based filesystems, so every damn thing doesn't have to run through a Web browser (and doesn't have to in a world of FOSS applications). |
| Sander_Marechal Jul 07, 2009 5:52 PM EDT |
Quoting:MS gets its Office suite in the cloud, that could drain away a whole lot of Google business in the enterprise. MS? Don't make me laugh. But for a web office suite done right, check out Adobe Buzzword. It looks and acts exactly like a normal office suite. That is: WYSIWYG. https://buzzword.acrobat.com |
| Steven_Rosenber Jul 07, 2009 6:05 PM EDT |
If MS ever releases Office in the Cloud, it'll be huge. I'd take that to the bank. |
| tuxchick Jul 07, 2009 6:18 PM EDT |
Whatever you call it, cloud, hosted services, software as a service, whatever, eventually it's going to dominate. It's a familiar service model, like cable and satellite TV, and mobile phone services. Customers don't have to be their own system and network admins, just pay monthly fees for a bundle of services and use some kind of subsidized client machine. It's not attractive to me, but it's safe to say that a lot of people will like it. |
| gus3 Jul 07, 2009 6:39 PM EDT |
Quoting:It's not attractive to me, but it's safe to say that a lot of people will like it.If, by "people," you mean "clueless managers," then I agree completely. |
| bigg Jul 08, 2009 4:35 PM EDT |
> It's not attractive to me, but it's safe to say that a lot of people will like it. I find it to be very interesting that you posted this yesterday, then today Google starts working on an OS project around that very same logic. This can't be coincidence. |
| jdixon Jul 08, 2009 8:24 PM EDT |
> This can't be coincidence. Google's royalty checks to tuxchick should be sent c/o me. I'll deposit them in an interest bearing account and make sure she gets her fair share. :) |
| tuxchick Jul 08, 2009 9:45 PM EDT |
Pish tosh. I earned my Bugatti all by myself. |
| jdixon Jul 08, 2009 10:39 PM EDT |
> I earned my Bugatti all by myself. You know that and I know that TC, but does Google know that? :) |
| tuxchick Jul 09, 2009 12:36 AM EDT |
and the song I've heard before is "the check is in the mail." So what do you use for mail, jdixon, the Pony Express? |
| gus3 Jul 09, 2009 12:49 AM EDT |
Carrier pigeon. |
| jdixon Jul 09, 2009 6:49 AM EDT |
> So what do you use for mail, jdixon, the Pony Express? Seriously, in any such case, I'd use our bank's bill paying system to transfer the money directly to your account. Now, getting back to the issue at hand: That would be after the proper custodial fees were deducted, of course. You're obviously much too important and too busy with higher level activities to worry about such minor details as getting paid.. I'd be glad to take care of such trivialities for you. :) |
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