What is cloud computing?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Just in case you were wondering.

Why The Computer Won’t Be Going Into The Cloud Anytime Soon – Andrew Min

A friend of mine, Andrew Min, wrote an excellent article on cloud computing. It expands on my ideas from my previous post.

Check it out!

Issues With “Cloud Computing”

The theory behind cloud computing is a wonderful one.  Imagine an infinitely scalable sever cluster that theoretically has no limits.  Need more space or bandwidth?  Just pop in an extra server.  For end users, cloud computing is nice, because it gives them access to services that use a cloud without having to worry about the complex infrastructure that supports it.  The main problem with cloud computing at this stage is that the statement that says things that sound too good to be true usually are, applies heavily.

More and more web 2.0 companies are turning to a cloud for their infrastructure.  For example, Apple’s MobileMe service, Amazon’s S3 service, Squarespace, and many others.  The trend will only continue until one day, everything is up in the cloud, and every service is using some too good to be true, infinitely scalable cloud infrastructure.  That’s a bit of a problem because of the dependence it builds.

Not only are cloud infrastructures not always 100% reliable, the term is confusing to many consumers because it’s being thrown around as the new buzzword on the Internet.  Hell, Dell is even trying to trademark it, which is bullshit by the way (1).  For example, today, GMAIL went down for nearly everyone that uses it.  Does GMAIL use a cloud system?  I guess so, considering they continue to increase storage and run a massive cluster of servers.  Another example is Apple’s MobileMe service.  Although it looks good on the surface, it’s having more issues underneath than I can even begin to discuss here.  Amazon’s S3 service went down a few months ago, and brought down half the Internet with it.  Twittter, Pownce, Center Networks, all use S3 for image and other file related storage.  The new media/web 2.0 scene became so dependent on one cloud that when it failed, it brought down enough sites to make the whole blogosphere go crazy.

What’s my advice for now?  Be wary about a service claiming to use a cloud infrastructure.  Educate yourself on what it really is, and if it would make sense for that respective service to be using a cloud.  Also, always back up your data, and don’t ever become entirely dependent on one service – no one nor any service can guarantee 100% uptime or reliability.

(1) Dell can’t patent “cloud computing.”  First of all, Dell didn’t invent cloud computing, and second of all It fails the generalization test.  A company can’t patent a general term.  Now if Dell was making a product called the “Dell Cloud,” sure they could patent that.  But the simple term of cloud computing is an adjective to describe the way something is hosted or the way a service is delivered.  Sorry Dell, but this is ridiculous, and your efforts are going to fail miserably.