"I do really like the idea that having super-powered processors and mammoth data storage on our ...

[G+_Paul Fidalgo]

Originally shared by Paul Fidalgo

 

"I do really like the idea that having super-powered processors and mammoth data storage on our persons won’t be so necessary anymore other than for niche cases, and that even those niche cases will dwindle. Instead, our 'computers' will be in a server farm somewhere, and we’ll simply have 'devices' that act as access points to the data crunching going on far away."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/imortal/2014/08/05/its-no-longer-a-crazy-idea-to-move-to-the-cloud/

[G+_Uncle Joe (Uncle Joe Hi]

Welcome to 1995!  No thanks. Cloud is another tool, not the answer. Processing in the cloud? Okay. Let's give up our bus from the keyboard to the CPU and exchange it for a connection a hundred fold slower. Yay! How about leaving storage, photo galleries, and email to the "Cloud" and I'll keep my CPU on my system board.

[G+_Dave Trautman]

Joseph Polk, your CPU would never be as fast or as capable as the super computer at the end of that "very slow' line. Super computing has been a 'rented' operation for some decades now.

 

The notion of working entirely in a cloud environment is entirely dependent on reliable and speedy internet, yes. But the management of large staff allocations and widely distributed data needs, not to forget protection from attack and invisible updating, gives the productivity edge to the cloud for plenty of normal enterprise operations. Just the cost of managing and servicing and protecting each desktop unit is enough to make a lot of companies take a closer look at a thin client model.

 

This whole notion of a constant cloud is structured on the foolish assumption all network access is fast and ubiquitous. In many important areas this is not true. A lot has to improve before this becomes the normal way of operating.

 

It took a very long time for the mainframe to morph into the workstation and then morph into the desktop and eventually the portable and the laptop. Funny enough the cloud has been around a lot longer than most people know. What morph will happen next will likely involve mobility of the workplace (not the device) and asynchronous communications.

 

I would close by saying the internet is a whole lot faster today than it was 15 years ago. Perhaps the post-PC era is not about tablets and phones and more about no longer working separately with discreet machines. Large enterprise will always choose control over individual liberty – its a natural evolution.

[G+_Uncle Joe (Uncle Joe Hi]

FWIW, I've been in the industry a long time so I remember the days of dumb terminals. I understand the advantages to an enterprise. But that's not was is often bantered about. It's that you and I will ditch our computers for supercomputers in the cloud. As you note, internet speeds are better but hardly match the bus of a system board. I say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek but it highlights the flippant way people hype up Cloud computing.

 

That said, enterprises aren't likely to use the internet for their cloud. They have a "cloud" called the network. They've been doing that the media calls "cloud computing" for decades.

 

You mention mobile. One could easily argue that mobile is showing that cloud computing (proper) isn't as desirable as native applications. HTML5 has largely been dropped.

 

So while this makes sense for enterprise networks it will take time for speeds to facilitate actually computing in the cloud. Then we can tackle security. With the NSA and open-ended EULA's is this something we really want? 

[G+_Ian Walker]

I can't get a phone signal or wi-fi in my local supermarket so even something as lowley as my shopping list has to be stored locally or on paper. We have a way to go yet.

[G+_Dave Trautman]

Some great points Joseph Polk. Centralized is not always better in many respects.