Is 'The Cloud' over hyped?

[Qqmike]

GG -- and you, also, make good points. Certainly, there are business, hobby, and personal examples where data piles up but is important or valuable. Being a collector (of coins, stamps, rocks, cans, whatever) comes to mind as an example. Genealogy. A photography hobby (esp where you might sell photos and must keep a library of selections to pick from). Many examples.

GG: "It looks like I will have to cull my data."

I do it as Frank616 -- "I cull mine as soon as they come off the camera. The good ones I keep. The others get deleted NOW." Key word is "NOW."

I also keep a folder titled "Probably_Throw_Away" where I can park stuff for a while knowing that I will probably, periodically (every week/month) simply delete the whole darned thing.

Yes, very hard to do! Difficult to let things go. 'But ... I MIGHT need that!' Recently, I have done a cleanup physically in my house, garage, shed, and data-wise with my FX bookmarks, T-Bird archived emails, and my personal/technical data on the PC. Cleaned it out. Down to minimal. Feels RDG (Real Damn Good). Yeah, that article/manual/link/file looks interesting and useful. But in 5 years I've never needed it or used it. Adios, amigo. And all those email jokes that circulate, and I started keeping a folder of them until ... I decided, Do I really want to be the class clown? Nope. Move to Trash. Traveling real light here.

[MoonRise]

Outside of making it convenient to switch files from one device to another, I don't see the point in cloud computing. There is really no incentive to move everything to the cloud. This is probably why people haven't been using it as much as expected.

++1

[SteveRiley]

Note to those following this thread...I've moved the conversation about Prezi to a new thread in the Social / Casual Talk forum. Please continue there. Thanks.

[NickStone]

Just wanted to say that "cloud storage" or "cloud computing" is not new. Back when the humble pc (personal computer) had not been invented or when it was in it's infancy companies/local authorities/Governments used what was called "Mainframe" computers. These were large computers that stored all data at a central location and ran programs (apps) centrally as well. Uses had access to the data or programs using "dumb terminals".

To me, this "cloud storage" or "cloud computing" is nothing more than an updated version of the mainframe computer system. It is not a new idea.

[SteveRiley]

Cloud computing exhibits five important aspects:

* on-demand self-service
* broad network access
* resource pooling
* rapid elasticity or expansion
* measured service

To the degree that these are provided simultaneously in a singe offering (such as Amazon Web Services), then cloud computing is, in fact, a new IT delivery model.

While the number of storage and compute locations is decreasing, content creation and consumption occurs in zillions of devices all over the planet, and these devices continue to multiply in number. I call this phenomenon distributed re-centralization, and it is not comparable to mainframes.


More:

* servers, as piles of software instantiated by scripts, are disposable horsepower
* infrastructure is code, therefore sysadmins must become developers
* if you're still paying for it when it isn't running, then it isn't cloud

While NIST's list of "essential characteristics" works very well, it's the second list (not entirely of my own origin, but I use it a lot) that frightens many of the old guard.

[NickStone]

Completely missed the point what I was saying.

The idea of "cloud computing" is not new. The whole idea of "cloud computing" is to run programs remotely and / or store documents remotely which was exactly how you worked when working on mainframe computers years ago.

Before the invention of the pc (personal computer) users had to work remotely. Then when users started to get pc's programs were able to be run from the machine they were operating, now with "cloud computing" it is going back to remote usage, Computing has come full circle.

[SteveRiley]

Respectfully, I would argue that I do understand your point. I disagree with those who would reduce cloud computing to something approximating a mainframe or other time-sharing model. It's true that remote computing and remote storage aren't new. But cloud computing is so much more than that. The reason why it's changing large portions of how IT gets delivered is because of the five essential characteristics in the NIST definition.

I've worked with numerous organizations that were able to redesign IT workloads to take full advantage of these characteristics. They'll never go back to the old ways. When you can provision a batch of servers in minutes, scale the up or down as needed so that your resource availability curve matches your demand curve, terminate the servers when they're no longer needed, and not invest in any excess capacity, it can really change the way IT provides value.

Yes, in too many cases, people have hyped the cloud. Cloud washing is a grave sin! I suspect the hype and desire to label everything "cloud" largely explains much of the backlash. But a look beyond the hype, and beyond the criticism, will reveal that the whole of cloud computing solves a number of previously challenging IT delivery problems, especially those requiring massive and unpredictable scale.

[NickStone]

I see what your saying. I'm looking at "cloud computing" in a more simplistic view whereas your seeing "cloud computing" as a technological viewpoint.

I do understand the differences of mainframe computing and server computing. Of the potential of up/down scaling of systems etc.

[SteveRiley]

In case you missed my thread from several months ago, you might be interested in my presentation, "In the cloud, everything you think you know is wrong." The title is intentionally provocative, and has worked in my favor -- I just gave the same talk yesterday at an event in Orlando. I discuss three ways the cloud will require evolution of IT thinking and processes: application development, information security, and system operations. Ultimately, the point of the talk is to encourage mild mental reprogramming, and that "everything you think you know" actually still applies (mostly), but with modification.

[Frank616]

Steve:

especially those requiring massive and unpredictable scale.

That is the thing that I find fascinating in all of this, humble desktop user that I am. I don't foresee that I will ever have a 'need' for the Cloud. But I can see that item being desirable for businesses that need to scale up and down quickly. You just can't buy and deploy enough machines fast enough to meet the split second nature of business today. I think the whole world is way too hyper, but like it or not, that is a fact of life. The only person that has to buy and maintain the incredibly massive server farms is the guy that rents it out to others. There are economies of scale at work here the same as in other industries. At least, if I understand this correctly. Virtualization in this way is a fascinating technology to watch. I just don't see the Cloud as being that good of a fit for the average joe.

Frank.

[SteveRiley]

Cloud computing isn't just for large enterprises. It's attractive to small businesses and startups, too. In fact, many venture capitalist firms now prohibit the use of seed money to purchase equipment, and instead require using a cloud service of some kind.

Many of the case studies featured by Amazon Web Services highlight how small businesses have found innovative ways to get more out of IT when using the cloud. Nimbus Health is one of my favorites.