DISQUS

Securiour · 1 year ago

Researchers seeking smarter ways to tackle the most complicated computing tasks think they've found the answer in a cloud—though not the kind that wafts across the sky as masses of condensed water droplets and frozen crystals. Instead, they're turning to something called cloud computing, which aims to deliver supercomputing power over the Internet.

SeekGround · 1 year ago

Great write up. You touched on a topic that I have been thinking a lot about the last few days: "it relies on one very simple thing - ubiquitous global broadband access." I spend most of my time in a city where I have broadband access with personal wifi at home and something faster at work plus wifi. My MotoQ cell phone internet access works super fast in and near the city. In short, I feel connected while in the city. I also spend time, particularly on the weekends, in a area that I would describe as in between. The area can no longer be described as completely rural but neither is it describeable as city. That happens to be where I am tonight. Here, in a location that I also consider Home, we only have dial up internet access. Typically we connect at 26.4 Kbps. Also, motoq internet access seems slow and sluggish. As a result, I don't feel the same connectedness as when I am in the city. If I lived here full time, I would be forced to invest in high speed which is a much more expensive proposition for this location. So, what about the people who could not afford the higher expense? That is where the digital divide really begins to show. But even for those that could afford higher charges, they have to be exposed to the possibilities before they will make the investment choice. What's in it for them? So, "ubiquitous global broadband access" that is financially feasable for the majority of Americans (and Canadians) sounds great to me. It seems to me that the infrastructure for this type of service is not quite in place as of yet but will be in the not to distant future.

samj · 1 year ago

Actually most of us have broadband (at least at work) and there are solutions like Gears for offline access which are great for road warriors.

That said, just as us developers should have regard for accessibility, we should try to keep our interfaces lean and mean.

CyndyA · 1 year ago

The only difference now is in the transparency of what's happening. It's been the rare company who's actually owned their own servers; how much has historically been outsourced to companies like IBM and EDS? EDS was running the servers for a good chunk of Blue Cross/Blue Shield as far back as what? The 70s? 80s? And they had your medical information. ;)

Troy Tolle · 1 year ago

Microsoft Mesh is not cloud computing. Microsoft Mesh is more of a portal like iGoogle or Yahoo than it is a cloud computing infrastructure right now. I understand that they intend to allow developers to extend it, but as of yet, not that exciting.

Craig Balding · 1 year ago

Great post. Pinning down the definition of Cloud Computing isn't exactly easy! I've started a blog to kickstart the conversation around Cloud Computing and Security: http://cloudsecurity.org. Feel free to drop by.

Douglas Karr · 1 year ago

Your definition is not much different than what a common host provides today. Cloud computing is well beyond this since software allows virtualization of hardware resources. Rather than being locked down to a specific server with limits in processing, memory, and drive space... you're environment is only limited to the amount of room left in the cloud (which is constantly growing).

A comparison would be running your home's electricity off your own generator or running it off of the power grid. Being part of the grid, you don't know where your electricity is generated from or how it gets there, you just know that you have it and you pay for usage.

Very comprehensive post! Thanks!

samj · 1 year ago

The definition I came up with after examining many others was quite broad:

"Cloud Computing is the realisation of Internet ('Cloud') based development and use of computer technology ('Computing') delivered by an ecosystem of providers."

There's a 2,000 word explanation for it on my blog: http://samj.net/2008/07/cloud-and-cloud-computi...