[LINK] Cloud Computing Definition

Frank O'Connor francisoconnor3 at bigpond.com
Sun Jul 28 11:40:24 AEST 2013


Largely speaking, I agree ... pretty unremarkable and uncontroversial.

That said, it seems to occupy the attention of the IT literati and illuminati to the detriment of a host of other technology developments and issues that are likely to have a far more dramatic effect on our productive and personal lifestyles.

As I've said before ... Cloud has always impressed me as an old solution continuing to search for a problem. Yeah, as the network becomes more ubiquitous and higher bandwidth what we think of as 'Cloud' will become more pervasive ... but there is no way this little black duck is gonna entrust his mission critical data and applications solely or even primarily to any distributed network - so in my instance it will be relegated to a secondary or tertiary back-up that I may elect to use if I suddenly develop a distrust in my PC, my external back-up drives, my RAID array and my various devices (phone, Pad etc) on which I also back up and transport mission critical data and apps.

My data paranoia is of legendary proportions, but so is my desire for privacy and independence ... so I can't see the Cloud (especially in these days of PRISM and other state sponsored data hoovering) as being a large part of my future strategy.

It MAY impact corporate IT strategies, but in these days of multiple high capacity devices all with routinely (comparatively speaking) massive storage and little numbers like BYOD it's more likely that pervasive privately owned storage and facilities will become the story for individuals.

And the privacy, security and other implications that the Cloud raises with respect to user and customer data may be far more trouble than its worth for organisations currently using more conventional back up strategies anyway. I mean, any breach of said security or privacy can effectively destroy an enterprise ... and with governments around the world admitting they are tapped into all our networked data, a backlash by consumers is ever more likely ... especially if a really public breach occurs.

Just my 2 cents worth ...
---
On 28/07/2013, at 10:58 AM, Bernard Robertson-Dunn <brd at iimetro.com.au> wrote:

> Having spent a fair bit of time looking at "cloud", here's my 2 pennyworth.
> 
> Virtalisation technology (Operating System, Storage and Network) moved 
> into the midrange/internet market a few years ago. Most of these 
> concepts have been around in the mainframe work for much longer.
> 
> Vendors started offering remote access to virtualised environments via 
> the web - the most common being website hosting, picture/image sharing 
> and file sharing. That's when the term "cloud" became popular, mainly 
> because it was somewhere, "on the internet"
> 
> All this is pretty unremarkable and uncontroversial.
> 
> Then techo-geeks and vendors jumped on the bandwagon predicting the 
> obliteration of the IT department and the wholesale replacement of all 
> that old technology. That's when things started getting really silly.
> 
> If it's one thing you can safely bet against it's techo-geeks and 
> vendors making wild predictions. It's also one reason why there are so 
> many definitions of "cloud". The cloud, as described by techo-geeks and 
> vendors, is a figment of their imagination, and there are lot of 
> imaginative people out there, each with their own narrow view of 
> technology. We oldies have seen such things many times over - who 
> remembers the hype of Ada, Trustworthy Computing, 4GLs, Expert Systems, 
> Japan's fifth generation computer project, the Multi-Function Polis?
> 
> When the realists get involved (i.e. people who are actually responsible 
> for architecting, designing, implementing and operating real life 
> information systems), they see "cloud" for what it is - virtualised 
> environments run by someone else.  Environments that need integrating 
> into what they've already got. Environments that they do not fully 
> control. Environments that need managing via SLAs and contracts. 
> Environments with questions regarding security and, most importantly, trust.
> 
> IMHO, cloud has its place, but it is largely a beat-up by the naive and 
> ignorant.
> 
> My advice is, only use cloud if there is a unarguable, compelling case 
> and you trust the vendor. Otherwise ignore it and it will probably go 
> away or subside into just yet another way of designing systems - a way 
> with its own special characteristics.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Regards
> brd
> 
> Bernard Robertson-Dunn
> Sydney Australia
> email: brd at iimetro.com.au
> web:   www.drbrd.com
> web:   www.problemsfirst.com
> Blog:  www.problemsfirst.com/blog
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link





More information about the Link mailing list