John Linton For several years now I have been reading about how "Cloud Computing" will revolutionise the world's industries. Over the past two years we have sent people to US conferences to get a better understanding of "Cloud Computing" and we have bought some servers and put in place budgets to establish a basis for trialling whatever we can find that passes for a "Cloud Computing" application. I read this article earlier this morning:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576067461795827534.html
enticed by its 'tell all summary' head line but all I found were vague generalisations and unsubstantiated future claims......disappointing for a reputable writer in a reputable publication. To say that email is an example of "Cloud Computing" because the server is in a different location to the client is just plain stupefying in its inanity. I have asked everyone I have met (inside and outside the industry) who has raised the topic to explain what "Cloud Computing" is but, either because of my stupidity or their lack of ability to explain their thoughts/ideas, I have never found anyone who is able to describe anything other than using the internet to access applications and databases located in other locations which I, and the rest of the world, have been doing since at least 1995........at least as I understand what is being said.
As far as I can see MRPG users, Social Networking users, Exetel employees in Sri Lanka and in their homes around Australia all use "Cloud Computing" in that their client software accesses remote computer hardware, software and data bases to provide entertainment, personal relationships or their livelihoods and has been in place for a very long time - there is nothing new and certainly nothing revolutionary about such concepts - they/their precursors have been around and being crudely delivered since the late 1960s. Am I really so dumb that I cannot even begin to comprehend what I have read so widely about and had so many discussions about for so long? Or is "Cloud Computing" some latter day Andersoneque commercial con a la "The Emperor's New Clothes"?
When a not too junior executive of the world's largest computer company is quoted in the referenced article:
""Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift in how IT infrastructure and software are delivered and consumed," says Christian Klezl, vice president and cloud leader, for International Business Machines Corp. in Northeast Europe"
you would think that if a company as large as IBM has a dedicated group under a VP to progress it's interests in "Cloud Computing" it is real. But note the nonsensical nature and sheer nothingness of the statement itself (with its tell tale clue to its vapid nature by the inclusion of the give away words "paradigm shift" - always a certain sign that the speaker can't explain what he/she is saying). I may be being unfair in taking the single statement as all the person concerned had to say about the subject he was devoted to at this moment but "goodness me, Betsy, he sure sounds like one of them Eastern snake oil salesmen to me."...if that was culled from his reply as being the best quote. I have read many of the explanations that typing "cloud computing" in to Google produces but I am none the wiser. I have read many dozens (what an archaic word in a decimal world) of white papers and competently authored articles but am still none the wiser.
So, I would be very grateful to anyone who can point me to a source that defines exactly what "Cloud Computing" is and explains why it is of benefit to which sorts of users.
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