This house believes that the cloud can't be entirely trusted....

Interesting Economist debate on Cloud computing suggests that, unlike the hype would like you to believe, Cloud Computing is not a slam dunk sure fire success story. One of the reader comments on the debate was excellent, and could have been written by us. So we did the next best thing and copied it word for word:

2YaQs38hgm wrote:

Dear Sir,

I have been reading a great deal recently about the newest “big idea” in computing, “Cloud Computing.” I just realized that I am an expert in cloud computing having entered into the computer industry as a Cloud Computing Specialist some 30 years ago. Way back then (I believe it is now referred to as the Paleo-PC Period) computers cost millions of dollars (that was a lot of money in those days), they were housed in glass enclosed altars where the air was specially treated, the software to run these computers was expensive to build and maintain and rife with flaws (much like today) and there were only a very few of us demi-gods with the requisite skills and magic spells to make them work at all (we wore blue, knee length smocks, were feared and worshipped and called geeks behind our backs, can you imagine). The unwashed masses (some of us geeks called them, “L-Users”) were always bothering us with their endless requests for more functionality, faster response, and complaints about things like accuracy (hence, the term, “Garbage in, garbage out”) and reliability (“we are down for systems testing. How did you do your job before we got here? Well, then go do it that way until we are back up”). Those were the good old days. No one cared about security very much and certainly not privacy at all. We called it “Time-Sharing” and there was an entire industry built up around it. And then it all went away. I wonder if anyone else wonders why it all changed and an entire industry disappeared? And what that might mean for this latest incarnation, now called cloud computing. Well probably not but I thought I would muse a bit about it anyway.

Besides the fact that cloud computing, excuse me, time-sharing, was all we had there were obvious advantages to sharing expensive resources among many L-Users. However as the cost of hardware went down, the power of computers went up, and the distance (physical and relationship) between L-Users and demi-gods caused mistrust and dissatisfaction the rationale for cloud computing diminished. So once again as a factor of being old I get to see another cycle repeat. So what advice does a former demi-god Cloud Computing Specialist have to offer? Well first thing is that nothing, I repeat, nothing fundamental magically changes by virtue of where you do your computing. It is still about the basics. Do you know your requirements? Does the system or application meet those requirements? Does the computing enhance productivity, satisfy the identified needs of the user, and do it in a manner that meets the need for security, privacy, and transparency? Then the question must be asked. Are you really saving money? Are the staff, computers, and facilities that are being replaced in the cloud really going away or are they merely being repurposed? If they are I think we will know by the howl that will go up as jobs and contracts are lost around the country. Next, we must ask, what are we doing in the cloud to make sure that the distance between users and Cloud Computing Managers does not turn back the clock to the bad old days of blue-smocked demi-gods deciding what the L-Users should get. Customer service must be elevated and understanding and responding efficiently to changing user requirements made a priority. Care must also be exercised in the enthusiasm to move to this “new” way of computing to guard against “cherry-picking,” that is, the inevitable tendency to move the newer applications into the cloud but leave behind the older, stove-pipe applications on their non-cloud based legacy computers. Besides the cost implications, the risk is that further fragmentation of data will make transparency even more difficult to achieve. The obvious issues around security, redundancy and resilience of these cloud computing facilities have been identified and are already being widely discussed but I have missed it if there has been a public discussion about the network infrastructure required to support the cloud. The assumptions around reliability, sustainability, and capacity that appear to exist about this network infrastructure need to be identified and challenged.

Since Cloud Computing was begat from SaaS which was begat from Grid which was begat from ASP which was... (you get the picture - as one wag suggested yesterday, to get Cloud Computing you take away the picture of the mainframe and put in a cloud, and replace the word "Terminal" with "PC" and you're done) we strongly suspect that this time round is not yet its time and it will finally be down in a future iteration, with another name. Fortunately, our mystery author thought of that too.....

So while this new, old way of computing (or is it old, new way) is worked out, I am trying to get out ahead of the next big idea. Ghost computing.

Ghost Computing then......well, I don't know. Ghost is good, but - hmmm, how does "Virtual" sound? Whats that you say - its been done too? Dang!

Anyway, good old 2YaQs38hgm - really knows how to turn a phrase