Cloud Computing: New Name, Same Old Tech

[Guest]

Larry Ellison Doesn’t Get Cloud Computing.

Cloud Computing: New Name, Same Old Tech : Read more

 

[nforce4max]

SKYNET

 

[dredj]

The U.S. needs a better broadband infrastructure, then, cloud computing will take off. I don't care what you call it, the masses will adopt it for reliability and ease of use. People like me, however, will stick to huge PC boxes where I can super-process what I want on my own hardware. At least, after I win that i7 rig....Tom's? You there?

 

[jomofro39]

Maybe if he got his head out of the clouds.....

 

[Guest]

They should have called it i-cloud!

 

[soccerplayer88]

Now we can have tech support AND our hardware over in foreign countries!

Excellent idea...

/sarcasm

 

[sliem]

Who's he?

 

[ricardok]

I do agree that cloud computing is something old. We had mainframes that did this "cloud computing" before but only on enterprise level. Not exactly the same as what we have now with several PCs connected to the internet and using programs located on a different continent, but still, it was, to some extent, cloud computing anyway.

 

[Trialsking]

[citation][nom]nforce4max[/nom]SKYNET[/citation]

If Skynet can store all my games and stream Crysis 1 & 2 at 60+ Fps with 16xAA and 16XAF.....bring on the terminators!

 

[agnickolov]

Actually, this long winded article simply validated Larry's point - the media loves to spin words, but the essence was with us since the early days of computing in the 50s and 60s. We had a hiatus into personal computing starting in the 80s and we are slowly coming back to the roots on a much grander scale today. This is the first cycle if cycle it indeed is, but the pendulum may swing back to personal computing in the future too...

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

You could also say that cloud computing is simply the return of dumb terminals connected to a mainframe. That is ancient. I think this is the closest definition of what it is. You don't have pretty much any resources locally at all. You just sign in from wherever there is a terminal that has access and use as much computing power and storage as needed.

Not only that, but yeah we'd need faster internet in the US to do it. All of my friends around here still have 1.5 down internet connections. I pay for 16 (charter cable) but most of the time get higher than that. Sometimes as much as 30 down and faster than they get down going up.

Then there's Steam Cloud. Is having them keep all the settings and savegames on their servers close enough? I can still turn on whichever computer I feel like, including ones not mine, and download any cloud enabled game then pick up where I left off with all my settings. It's pretty close to the do whatever from anywhere which is just about right I'd say.

 

[LORD_ORION]

Wow... what an article full of absolute crap and misdirection.

Cloud computing today is not about offloading processing tasks to thin clients as it was back then. (what do you think ASP has been doing for everyone hooked up to dial-up as you put it, it is not asking you to process your own requests with code behind, jesus).

Cloud computing today is about

1) Putting your 'data' out there for harvesting.

2) Getting away with selling crap like Atoms at inflated prices and paving the way to charge for processing services once this model is forced en masse.

In short, in 20 years they want control over everything. They want to sell you limited hardware at inflated prices so they can inflate the prices of the machines doing the processing to the corporations, who in turn want to eventually charge you for said processing when you have no choice. This means they also want to phase out powerful desktops as you know it. They will also harvest all your data and sell it.

This has always been the motive of this model since the inception... but they quickly realized consumers could also subsidize processing advancements to ensure it was American corporations who came out on top. So, they bit the bullet for 2 decades and let us pay for processing advancements, and now fully intend to take it away from us now that it has reached critical mass for the level of data and processing they need.

In short, fight cloud computing as hard as you can.

 

[billj214]

Hey I can remember many times I said something that was stupid but at least I didn't create a video about it and get it posted on Tom's!

As for what to call "Cloud Computing" I don't really care since it's more of an explanation of what it is VS. an actual name!

I think the best part of cloud computing is that I wouldn't have to wait for my Virus scanner to finish running in order to get some work done!

 

[zak_mckraken]

Who's "they"?

 

[cadder]

Cloud computing is a giant step backwards in many ways. When I started in computers we had to punch cards and use them to run programs on a computer that was far away. We were at the mercy of the computer, of the people manning the terminals, etc. We got our computing done when it was convenient to THEM, not when it was convenient to US. PERSONAL computers were so much better, because they were personal. You had your own computer that would do what you wanted, when you wanted. You didn't have to wait for the whims and mercy of anybody else. Now if we go back to letting someone else manage our computing, we will get it when they are willing to give it to us, which may not be when we want it.

You can already see that now if you rely on websites for email, forums, etc. I sit at my computer each day and want to check the latest news and discussions on various websites, including my email. Some days those websites work and I get what I want, somedays they don't work and I have to wait. I don't like waiting on someone else.

 

[Guest]

I'll stick with my data in my possession thank you! I wont trust a cloud to secure my private data! I like to back up my own stuff too. Just imagine your a sales person with a list of great contacts stored on said cloud. Your competitors hack the cloud and gain access to your contacts, how do you prove what happened without even an access log? And that's just one possibility when using this tech. Just wait until the malware folks get into the clouds! This is good tech for some things, just not the be all end all it's being portrayed as.

 

[mark0718]

"They are all sub-systems of cloud computing"
I think you are incorrect.
All are special cases of distributed computing.

I don't know a term for the lowest level of distribution usually
see "distributed" used for the lowest level of distribution
and also the highest level.

This is what I have seen:
my computers or my company's computers = distributed (since 1960s)

computers from companies making a living at it with a specific
plans for sharing loads and contract to provide capacity =
computing utility (perhaps since 1980s)

No formal plan for sharing, with much of the capacity not
guaranteed = cloud computing. (1990s, perhaps earlier)

In other words, Utility = contractual, Cloud = not contractual

 

[ares1214]

Ahhh great...communism and Skynet all wrapped in one...

 

[orionantares]

Summary, cloud computing is a marketing term for things that have already been in existence on a smaller scale and expanded upon to more end users as network access, availability, and reliability have increased.

 

[orionantares]

[citation][nom]agnickolov[/nom]Actually, this long winded article simply validated Larry's point - the media loves to spin words, but the essence was with us since the early days of computing in the 50s and 60s. We had a hiatus into personal computing starting in the 80s and we are slowly coming back to the roots on a much grander scale today. This is the first cycle if cycle it indeed is, but the pendulum may swing back to personal computing in the future too...[/citation]

I think that if it does cycle back to the "personal" hardware it'll either be to personal "cloud" boxes that you'd access through mobile devices (phones/pads) or more powerful self contained mobile devices. It really depends on how the tech advances and which trends the companies promote. The Google/Verizon net "neutrality" plan for wireless would definitely detract from the personal "cloud" boxes.

 

[tommysch]

The problem with the new iteration of the ''cloud'' is that its basically a second try to shove SaaS down our throat. Steam is as far as Im willing to get in the cloud. Dont get me wrong, its awesome in its current form. But thats a selling point (aka clever marketing), once you get hooked they reel you in. DLC anyone?

 

[Onus]

Lots of good points up there. This IS making your computing dependent on others, which means you are ceding control to those others. That puts you at their mercy.
As long as I have any choice in the matter, I will keep my data and processing local and private, unless it is something I specifically intend to share (without regard to privacy).

 

[jsm6746]

back in my cisco days, the 'cloud' was in fact the internet... when you were drawing the model of a network, you drew a 'cloud' symbol to represent the internet... you did this, because you naturally had no freaking clue as to what hardware the packet could travel through while bouncing around the internet, so the term 'cloud' kinda represented that jumbled mess...

an issue that is common with servers nowadays is load balancing... if a thousand people hit your website at once, and they all get sent to the same server, that server is gonna get slammed and your other servers may not even get touched... one way of alleviating this is with virtualization... you have one beefy server with several virtual os installs on it... the virtual os's act as individual servers so on a software layer it would look like 5 servers when actually with hardware it's only one... if one of these virtual servers gets slammed, resources are then allocated to it, stolen from the other virtual servers that aren't utilizing all of theirs... this works well, but it would be best if things could scale across hardware...

thus 'cloud' networks... this is essentially a software layer that is capable of scaling across hardware... in theory, it would be like going into task manager and seeing 64 processors and explorer showing 100TB of space and your computer successfully utilizing all of that, but on the hardware side it is really just several networked machines...

i haven't seen any 'real' cloud networks, but what i've seen of current implementations focus on resource management... it's like if your pc was connected to a cluster of servers, and your os was capable of sending tasks directly to the hardware in the cluster and managing usage at the same time... so it could send computational tasks to one server, and if the resource manager notices that server is reaching its max potential it could start sending tasks to a second server as well... naturally you'd want to balance it across all the servers...

when people say 'in the cloud'... like storing something 'in the cloud'... they really just mean on their servers... unfortunately, this usage is what causes all the confusion of the term 'cloud'... in a way, they are saying that everything outside of the current users network, the internet and beyond, is being bundled into the term 'cloud'... from a users perspective, ya, you don't have any idea of the structure of the network outside of your own... so it's kinda correct, except that it's those who 'own' the network you are storing on or running the stuff from who are also calling their 'own' network a cloud, which is kinda weird and incorrect... they are more than likely 'not' running a cloud networking solution... currently most 'cloud' computing networks are being used for highly computational scientific tasks... they aren't storing your game saves or your emails... these are on the run of the mill standard networks... so why even call it 'cloud'?? why not just say 'server storage' or 'server applications'... cuz it's a buzz word... and, well, we've had server storage and server applications for some time now... 'cloud' makes it sound all shiny and new, add in the confusion with actual 'cloud' networks and you've got people all foggy, like their head's in 'the cloud'...

 

[bildo123]

[citation][nom]trialsking[/nom]If Skynet can store all my games and stream Crysis 1 & 2 at 60+ Fps with 16xAA and 16XAF.....bring on the terminators![/citation]

I think you are now referring to The Matrix, which isn't limited to your cheesy old 24-bit color but the new and improved LooksSoRealVision(r)!!!

 

[braneman]

remember a couple months back when the sidekick servers died? that is why I don't like cloud computing, when its up its good when its down I have no way of knowing what is going on, so my computer is crippled with no way of knowing when or if I'll get my data back.