Microsoft "betting the company" on cloud computing

I swear that this really hinders loading times, which with microsoft products are long enough as they are, plus if there's any server issues no one can use the program till there resolved. . . this just seems like a step back to me

It IS a step back. This is what was used back when computers were enormous and very expensive.

Am I the only one who would rather keep my stuff where I can see it? Cloud computing means completely relying on people who just want to make as much money as they can off you. Also seems like privacy would completely go out the window.

Cloud computing as a optional service seems like a good idea so long as I won't be forced use it for everything.

With storage mediums forever growing in capacity, speed and affordability, i hardly see how cloud computing is a necessary implementation in contemporary computing :S You'd probably be better off relying on ur own hardware and if necessary installing a remote control application on ur pc to retrieve data off it :S
And thats not even to highlight the security and stability issues of cloud computing :S But hey, maybe Microsoft are just trying to distract the other companies by releasing these kind of statistics while they work on other things >

Well, this is a poor decision. I sincerely doubt that most people would be interested in keeping their most private information and data on commercial run servers. Especially when, as previously mentioned, storage mediums are advancing greatly.

Then again, people never fail to surprise me and it may work out for em.

Being able to store your personal files on a flash drive or some other futuristic medium will NEVER disappear.

I think I'll just keep all my stuff local, thanks anyways.

Perhaps they've been watching too many sci-fi films? In an ideal world I can see how cloud computing could work; where fast Internet connections are everywhere and 99.99% stable, fingerprint/eye scans required to access your private data from anywhere and where every piece of IT technology is completely 'in-sync' with the rest. But in the current world, it's just not like that and won't be for quite a while.

Besides that, as I said on a similar article:

quote ACY3

I like having a reasonably powerful PC sitting on my desk, with my own hard drive doing my own processing. Something I can call "My computer".

Cloud Computing can never be 'the new way' until internet is available to EVERY home. And not only internet, but fast internet with quite a bit of bandwidth allowance...

In my opinion, cloud computing is a waste of time. It is good for some applications, but definitely not for everything.

*warning servers are down*
NOOOOOOOOOO lol

[quote=DeathMonkey]Am I the only one who would rather keep my stuff where I can see it? Cloud computing means completely relying on people who just want to make as much money as they can off you. Also seems like privacy would completely go out the window.

So true, privacy becomes a real issue so does the spectre of servers going down not to mention the threat by Obama that he can shut down the entire internet including private ones so in that scenario if your data and apps arent local on your machine you're screwed.

At the risk of sounding paranoid its becoming more and more of a Big Brother society and cloud computing just facilitates that along with taking away your power over your computing activities.

I might be the only one, but I like this idea. I think this idea will, and could come into our homes in a much bigger way than we think. Household appliances even. Not just your PC, but everything else? I'm sure microsoft has the capacity to make some sort of internet connection that will reach across every home in every state of the US (not sure about the whole world, haha), and be available for everybody.

This may be in the next 15 - 20 years, but I feel like it will be a great thing for most people, and can open up the possibility for a household run on computers (for the most part).


Then again, this can allow microsoft, and the government to control us in a much bigger way than we'd expect, which IMO is a major downfall.


I would never give up my regular PC for a cloud computer, but I definitely would allow cloud computing in my TV and other things.

How would cloud computing aid your tv? :S

Cloud computing can be written as a popular thesis:))))))

Though it is a neat idea its not a new idea its been around for a long time and some services like Digital TV with a extra game pack that can be downloaded and played with a monthly fee has man years of play time itself. If I recall back in 1995 Sunnyvale CA my co-worker had cable TV with a game box built in that he could actually download a game in a few minutes and then could play, it was a nifty idea back then.

I see one huge issue is how they plan to keep it secure? its going to be a gold mine for hackers & Identity theft so i wont be putting anything in that.

If you want your own cloud computing you can simple build it yourself, its possible now because there is nearly every appliance in the house can be used via internet if it has the ability, all one needs to do is invest in a server chassis and load it up with hard drives, a Media Center OS, a total TV Tuner card supported by HDMI and a ethernet then stick in a corner and connect it to your router from there you can add new things to it as you GO and remotely use it from the office, its easier then you think.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

Just re-reading my last paragraph, and I think I didn`t make something clear about cloud computing: not only are your files not stored locally, but perhaps more importantly, all the applications you run are not processed locally either. The idea is that the programs you use, and (more so in the future) games, will be run on the big supercomputers and than streamed to your computer.

I`m not like a huge believer in the predicted dominance of cloud computing concept myself, but because people so far seem somewhat against it , I`ll play devil`s advocate here.

A big plus for cloud computing is that you would be capable of using a very wide vareity of applications and all sorts of programs with a very basic , `dummy terminal`type computer. Say like a $200 computer, that would be able to run anything well, including games, because the stuff is just streamed online, and all the processing is done by a big computer farm some place. Not keen on buying a $600 video card, or a $300 processor? What if you could play Crysis 3 at 60 fps with a $200 machine..?

Also, arguably you would have far less to worry about in the way of viruses and malware, if you were just runnning a very basic terminal at home, that recieved streamed stuff over the cloud .

Many software companies like this CC idea because they would (probably) hope to make subscription fees for applications services, instead of folks just buying 1 copy (or worse, pirating it) and then using that for life. Or, perhaps many applications would move to an ad-supported enviornment. As horrible as it may seem, their might be entire new crop of applications that are free to use over the cloud, but have big blinking `lose weight`ads running down the side of your document...

'Thin client' computing is seeing more and more popularity in the business sector as well. Your datacenter is already packed with storage and computing power, and generally you have more redundancy there than you could ever get on the desktop side. Thin clients mean less to break on the user end, less to abuse, and less to repair when it goes south. The user experience is also more streamlined. You don't have 'power users' who want admin rights to their PC or insist on getting a CD burner, or downloading some internet radio app, etc, etc. At home.. the appeal comes in faster booting, less hardware to worry about breaking, truly slim OSes would have less for viruses to hook into, and there's the ability to leverage a remote datacenter's power/redundancy and use apps/store files you never could on a standard desktop.

It's not for everyone, but it does have its appeal. Personally I head up a writing project that involves a few persons and have always struggled with centralizing our data and making it accessible to everyone. Google Docs is helping immensely. A wiki could help too. Those services involve very little desktop computing.

All this cloud computing talk is bullshit. Seriously I dont care if we are talking Google or Microsoft. There are some apps I want to run locally on my computer. Office apps are one of them especially when Im creating spreadsheets with my own financial info etc. Plus what company with security in mind would use such a thing? The only way this would work for a large company, is if you could purchase the software and run it on your OWN server so you dont need to run an install on each client or if you are using thin clients. In that case something like this would be awesome. But if these companies think ABC Corporation is going to want their employees to run their office apps from MS live or Google they are fooling themsleves. No way in hell would I let my users do such a thing nor would our auditor approve.

Output of apps not running locally can be easily monitored and surveillanced.

I am against cloud computing completely. There's nothing it does better than my box sitting here with sshd installed.

Will if they meet god amongst the clouds could you ask him to bring my dad back down here where he belongs.....!

I work for Microsoft and I can honestly say that I don't trust the cloud further than I can throw it. I used to be a developer but I've transitioned to a more customer-oriented role. I'm constantly given reminders that maintaining our image is more important than actually doing good work.

These are only my views and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer or anyone else.

If you haven’t already explored it, check out www.microsoft.com/cloud for more details on how cloud computing is changing the way people and business work with each other.

Deidra
The Microsoft SMB Outreach Team
v-dejow@microsoft.com

It's like a dare for terrorism.

And you thought blowing things up ruined lives.

Thanks Perderedeus, haven't come across much on 'thin client' practices, that sounds like something I'll have to read up on, makes sense...