Re:48% Of IT Workers Don't Get "Cloud Computing"
by dkarl on Wednesday January 05, 2011 @05:46PM
(#2072897)
I wouldn't call Gmail cloud-based. Google manages all of their own hardware. To me, cloud computing means flexible use of shared general-purpose computing resources that are managed and provided as a service. Gmail would be cloud-based if Google ran it on a bunch of Amazon EC2 instances.
Using "cloud computing" to refer to the use of server applications over the internet is just a misunderstanding of the term. The surprising thing it reveals is that somebody is still looking for a name for that kind of computing in 2010, which suggests that they're still trying to wrap their heads around it. One wonders what kind of confusion will be created in the buzzword stratosphere (upper management) when one exec starts talking about cloud initiatives and another exec says, "What are you talking about? Our services have been cloud-based since 2002."
Of the respondents who that said their organization used Web-based software for email, CRM, productivity, conferencing, and other uses, 54% did not identify them as cloud applications.
Does this mean that 46% of respondents have the same incorrect understanding of the term that the author does, or am I the one who is wrong? Either way, this kind of confusion means that "cloud computing" does not mean anything at all anymore. I guess that makes it a blank check for bullshit artists.
Using "cloud computing" to refer to the use of server applications over the internet is just a misunderstanding of the term. The surprising thing it reveals is that somebody is still looking for a name for that kind of computing in 2010, which suggests that they're still trying to wrap their heads around it. One wonders what kind of confusion will be created in the buzzword stratosphere (upper management) when one exec starts talking about cloud initiatives and another exec says, "What are you talking about? Our services have been cloud-based since 2002."
Of the respondents who that said their organization used Web-based software for email, CRM, productivity, conferencing, and other uses, 54% did not identify them as cloud applications.
Does this mean that 46% of respondents have the same incorrect understanding of the term that the author does, or am I the one who is wrong? Either way, this kind of confusion means that "cloud computing" does not mean anything at all anymore. I guess that makes it a blank check for bullshit artists.