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WINDOWS 7 THREAD (ongoing)
zridling:
[MrCrispy]: (1) Cloud computing is also the only way I see to have a truly universal presence.... (2) Azure is Microsoft's technology to bring highly scalable distributed apps....
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The great advantage to #1 is that it's platform-independent; OS choice recedes, while personal choice increases. The great disadvantage to #2 is if Microsoft tries to create a walled online community, much like they did with MSN back in 1995-96. (AOL was the first?)
superboyac:
Oh yeah, good point...AOL. AOL sucked.
40hz:
Web based/cloud computing is not just limited to running apps on remote servers. There's nothing preventing an app having a cached local copy of its program, data and services, and using that for performance, and accessing the cloud when its not cached, to update itself etc. In fact .NET contains these mechanisms today. At work we have intranet apps deployed using ClickOnce that run locally, but if there's a new version it gets downloaded and installed locally automatically.
-MrCrispy (October 27, 2008, 11:01 PM)
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I think the scenario you're describing here is more a mixture of Thin Client or Client/Server, network update services, and remote backup applications than what most "cloud" providers are envisioning. There's nothing new with that. Citrix and others have been providing services like those for years.
But if you're dependent on a server to push an application or data down to a local PC, you still have a single point of failure regardless of whether your apps and data are cached locally or not. It also presumes the presence of electrical power to the client machine if the caching is done to RAM rather than to disk. Which may be fine if a only a single building or city block has been blacked out. It's becomes a bigger problem when there's a full-bore regional power outage that not only takes out your PC, but also your company data center located 500 miles away - along with all the network routers in between!
If my network is down when I come into work, I can still use Excel or Word if they're installed on my hard drive. But if I'm running something like Citrix, or a web app suite, I can't do much of anything other than boot up. And if I'm running a pure thin client, I can't even do that. In short - no server or network connection - no party.
And that's where the problem lies.
The whole idea, and driving force, behind cloud computing and web applications is that they will eventually replace the desktop rather than augment it.
Software companies, much like the movie and music business, want to get out of issuing hard media and do everything via networks. Networks they own and control. And once that infrastructure gets adopted, the era of personal computing will come to an end. Unfortunately, much of the flexibility and choices we seem to take for granted in our computing environment will go out the door with it. Information will become just one more regulated utility, no different than water, gas, or electricity..
And we all know how well utilities have fostered technical innovation. Like Henry Ford said, you can get it in any color so long as it's black. *;D
*For Extra Credit:
Do you know why the Model-T Ford was only manufactured with a black finish?
The answer had absolutely nothing to do with what was best for the customer - and everything to do with what worked best for the Ford Motor Company. Look it up if you don't believe!
Darwin:
For Extra Credit:[/b]
Do you know why the Model-T Ford was only manufactured with a black finish?
The answer had absolutely nothing to do with what was best for the customer - and everything to do with what worked best for the Ford Motor Company. Look it up if you don't believe!
[/color]
-40hz (October 28, 2008, 11:20 AM)
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Hence, the famous quip attributed to Henry Ford:
You can havea Model T in any colour you like as long as it's black
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zridling:
[40hz]: Software companies, much like the movie and music business, want to get out of issuing hard media and do everything via networks. Networks they own and control. And once that infrastructure gets adopted, the era of personal computing will come to an end. Unfortunately, much of the flexibility and choices we seem to take for granted in our computing environment will go out the door with it.
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To me that means a boon for two things: (1) open source apps, who are not [necessarily] dependent on outside income, or any income. Every medium like Azure will likely be tied to a TOS (terms of service) agreement which will start out strict and only become more restrictive over time. Break one rule and you've broke them all. No notice; no warning; your 'cloud' data is locked until you pay up or submit. (2) Local storage devices, notably HDs.
From what little I've read, however, Microsoft is pushing Azure for business, not for users. Is that right?
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