[Discuss] Amusing turn of phrase

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

On 08/19/2012 09:23 PM, Rich Pieri wrote:
> A friend of mine groused about OnLive's layoff meeting and about the
> trustworthiness of cloud providers.  To which I responded:
> 
>> Client-server computing, aka thin-client computing: a computing model
>> where your data resides on, and applications run on, servers that you
>> (or your school or employer or whatever) own, control and maintain.
>>
>> Cloud computing: client-server computing where you give to a total
>> stranger your checkbook and credit cards, the keys to your house and,
>> if you're really gung-ho about it, custody of your children

I feel the same way about it.  I am "the IT department" for the
not-for-profit Agile New England, and I often have to fight the battle
against "just throw it in the cloud" and keeping everything on our
server.  So far we've had at least three cases where we relied on free
services of some other company that either went out of business, changed
their policies in a way that no longer fit our needs, and/or did not
offer a way to extract/back up data.  I have a friend in the field and
we simply can't talk about work because I think she's just promising
silver bullets to stupid managers.

The original concept touted as "cloud computing" (the concept wasn't
new, just the name) was there would be ubiquitous, commoditized services
that would run data processing jobs on a scalable number of cores/boxes,
and if the vendor pissed you off or changed policies, you take your work
elsewhere.  As far as I know, no standard has ever developed, so there's
a lot of work involved in leaving one cloud computing service and going
to another.  It's just another vendor lock-in opportunity where the
means of your production are completely out of your control.

What's worse is the marketdroids now use that term for any
internet-based service, even if it's running their software not yours.
SOA is now rebadged as Cloud because it's a word the CEOs have heard
recently and think they understand.

This is a part of the industry I'm not fond of.