So here is a little ditty on some basic aspects of cloud computing. As I have advised many times, ultimately tier 1s like Dell, Apple and HP will be making either $300 tablets or $10,000 cloud servers all but forgoing the desktop space. This article has some simple and succinct descriptions of what we now term as cloud services. We actually use some of these at Rain.
Cloud computing is actually a truly wonderful outcropping of the internet. While tablets, thin client and remote logins to desktop PCs are extremely useful and attractive in their own right, they are inherently limiting if the user does not let go of the concept that their data and applications must reside locally on their various devices. These devices now include tablets, smartphones, dumb terminals (budget PCs with no special processing ability) and soon, cars! So it stands to reason that in order to make these various devices truly liberating, we must disconnect from old precepts that our data and applications must be stored locally or even in just one place.
I am personally excited about the continued incubation and propagation of cloud computing at two levels. One, of course, is the very positive impact it will continue to have on Rain Computers as it contributes greatly to the ever increasing vacuum being created by the exodus of large computer manufacturers from the local processing desktop space. Secondly, the technology is indeed useful and has empowered me as a user to get a lot more done without being chained to a particular device. So when you read this article envision not only the wondrous implications some of these technologies have to make your own computer life easier. But also how it further indicates that there is no way any of these computer giants will have any incentive to make a desktop PC that does anything more than log on to the cloud!
