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Archive for the 'cloud computing' Tag

Some days ago, I linked to a nice poem about cloud computing. I think it expresses nicely the confusion that exists about this term. Usually, it comes into play when people talk or write about the fall of Windows. News sites and blogs were full of this kind of stuff when Google released their new web browser Chrome. I have been using this term frequently, without thinking much about its meaning. After I read this poem, I wasn’t sure, anymore, if I really knew what “cloud computing” actually means. Thus, I thought it would be a good idea to write down at least once, what kind of associations come to mind when I think about cloud computing. After I finished this post, I realized that it had become more like a defense for desktop computing.

Software as Commodity/Utility computing

The idea that software is just an unimportant commodity is very old. Before Microsoft entered the computing market, it was just like this. At that time, there were, basically, only hardware companies, and software was just some kind of unimportant add-on. Microsoft was able to grow fast because hardware vendors, in particular IBM, realized much too late that software is more than just a commodity. With the rise of Open Source software, these companies saw a chance to reverse the course of history.

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icloud_logo I never really believed that web apps would be a serious threat to Windows. But since I’ve seen icloud, I am not so sure anymore. icloud is the service from a Swedish startup Xcerion. XIOS (Xcerion Internet XML OS) is the operating system on which icloud is based. I had a quick look at the latest beta of version 3. I really am impressed!

I am very enthusiastic about the Web as an information resource and publishing platform, but when it comes to online apps, I usually prefer real programs running on my desktop that store their data and settings in the cloud. However, icloud is quite unlike any other web app I have ever seen. Its key difference from other web-based apps is that you work in an environment that is very similar to a common Windows desktop. When I first logged on to icloud, I thought, it’s just some kind of Terminal Server session which runs in a Web browser. But it’s not.

It is possible to access the source code of the corresponding web page. It’s mostly XML with a little Javascript. You start applications with a double click on the desktop icon just as you would under Windows. The look and feel of the applications is not at all like web applications. You can drag their windows just as on a Windows desktop, you can minimize them to the taskbar, you can resize them, and they can overlap.

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When it comes to cloud computing, most people think about hosted applications running somewhere in a big data center. Only time can tell if this kind of cloud computing will gain acceptance. It seems to me that things develop very slowly here. But what about renting a complete server in the cloud? Meanwhile, most big web hosts also offer dedicated servers. Prices go down almost every month, and the servers they have are becoming more powerful. Since we are about to buy a few new servers, I compared the prices and considered the consequence of moving some of our servers to a third-party data center.

My experiences

I have been working with rented dedicated and virtual servers on my private projects for a couple of years. My overall experience is quite positive. Administering a server in the cloud is not much different from managing a server in our server room. For most tasks, it doesn’t really matter where the server is located. It could be in the room next door or on the other side of the planet.

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There is an interesting article about on-demand computing at BusinessWeek. Most texts you read about this topic these days claim that cloud computing is a serious threat for traditional software vendors, because the software-as-service (SaaS) model does not allow the same high profit margins as licensed software does. The BusinessWeek article is a bit more balanced. I do not think that the profits of traditional software vendors will change just because of the Internet. For customers, this means that software will not get cheaper.

I think that one has to distinguish two different questions here. One is whether cloud computing or on-demand computing will replace traditional computing, and the other is whether software companies will earn less in the future.

The rise of on-demand computing has been predicted for many years. BusinessWeek makes clear that these things will not change as quickly as many believe. However, let us assume for a moment that someday all our apps will run somewhere in the big Internet cloud. Would this really be a problem for traditional software vendors?

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  • Microsoft Active Directory Migration Tool version 3.1 is availabe for download. http://snurl.com/2wv4d #
  • Save Windows 3.11. Ed Bott is right. It is not bloated and fast too. http://snurl.com/2waft #
  • Cloud computing: 12 reasons to love it or leave it http://snurl.com/2wake #
  • Microsoft Announces Software-Plus-Services Adoption on the Rise With Assistance From Hosting Providers http://snurl.com/2wam5 #
  • Sysinternals Process Monitor v1.35 is ready for download. It seems this update only brings App-V support. http://snurl.com/2vnqw #
  • Windows XP SP3 is on Windows Update. Use Windows Service Pack Blocker Kit if you don’t want it on your machines. http://snurl.com/2vnsy #
  • Is Diane Greene leaving the sinking ship or was she fired? Former Microsoft exec becomes new VMware CEO http://snurl.com/2vo0h #
  • TrueCrypt 6.0a is out: faster, create encrypted hidden operating system, system drive encryption on Vista and more. http://snurl.com/2vo4s #

Windows 7 is still far, far away, but the interest in Microsoft’s next operating system is growing steadily. I think it is not because people are disappointed of Vista, but because Windows 7 could be the beginning of a new type of desktop OS. Today, I found a couple of interesting posts about Windows 7. One is a demo about some new features of Windows 7, then there are some new comments from Bill Gates and Mary Jo Foley has some news about the interaction of Windows Live and Windows 7.

The demo just shows some basic enhancements of Windows Explorer, a Screen & Animation Capture tool, a new Disk Usage Analyzer, an enhanced Task Manager, a short demo about Virtual Drive and the new Website, Blog and Portal Designer.

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adobe_air The final of Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) has been available for some days now. I was curious enough to play a little with it since there are so many who predict that these kind of new online apps might change IT, and particularly the work of Windows admins, fundamentally. Adobe AIR is like Microsoft’s Sliverlight a runtime environment for rich Internet applications (RIA). Contrary to old-fashioned web apps they are supposed to have the same comfort and responsiveness like desktop applications. And contrary to old-fashioned desktop apps they are supposed to be platform-independent.

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Bill Gates announced on Monday that Microsoft will offer online business services to companies of all sizes. At the moment, only organizations with more than 5,000 users are supported. With online business services he meant Exchange Online and Sharepoint Online. Obviously, this is a response to Google and the cloud computing hype. Since we are planning to introduce Sharepoint in our organization, I was curious to learn more about this new offer.

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NETWORWORLD has a review about Niccholas Carrs’s new book where he argues that the IT department is dead. Carr is known for his provocative views. However, you often hear similar assertions about the impact of cloud computing these days. Usually, they are about the showdown between Google and Microsoft. Many think that Google can replace applications on the Windows desktop with their web-based applications. We are living in a fast moving world. So it can’t be wrong to listen to these assertions every once in a while.

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