Does Amazon's Glitch Call Clouds into Question?

The Amazon glitch is not the only issue. One must also look at all the hacking reports- especially the recent g-mail hacks targeting Government employees, the Sony playstation problem, and any number of similar attacks on supposedly "secure" systems. Then there is the problem of denial-of-service attacks- where I have attempted experiments with storing information in the "Cloud" (including e-mail), I find that all too often I do not have access to my stored data when needed.

Going to the Cloud with anything critical does not seem like such a bright idea...

Disregarding government requirements for protecting data (ITAR, classified material, etc.) I cannot imagine any information important enough for a company to keep, with low enough value to risk to the 'cloud'. Sales brochures?

Emmett

Disregarding government requirements for protecting data (ITAR, classified material, etc.) I cannot imagine any information important enough for a company to keep, with low enough value to risk to the 'cloud'. Sales brochures?

stuff like inventory levels at remote locations, is an example

there is other day to day information which is better kept at a central location

the cloud is a throwback to a serverbased system

there are also companies that use private clouds

Funny you mention the return to old server based architecture - I was struck by it myself.

I'm sure the costs are lower 'farming' it out, but the risks need to be carefully considered.

I'll bet various MRP systems are doing deviations of full on cloud

depending on the exact set up there can be much better redundancy [back up]

it resembles using rsync across the internet instead of just a local network

storage is cheap enough to have local & global copies of data

there are certainly advantages for the IT department, updates become much less of an ordeal [one instead of many]

of course when it goes wrong it really goes wrong

Had an IT friend used to work data centers tell me the story of the cleaner who wheeled their trashcan down an aisle and pop every cable off the 3 foot level. IT has always been sorta lazy about cable labeling compared to aircraft.

Apparently took a week to get everything hooked back up

I have been harping on about the fact that Cloud-based applications (in addition to storage) are a throwback to the ways we used to do a lot of scientific computing like Finite Element analysis. Even though it may take much, much longer to actually do the calculations on my local computer, it still takes less time on the clock to get to the solution. And I don't have to wait for the main frame to kick back reams and reams of erroneous data when I have misplaced a comma- I can interactively react and terminate the process, find the wayward comma, and start the process again a whole lot faster. With my multi-core laptop, I can even run such resource-intensive applications on one processor, while continuing to work on other things on another processor on the same machine. At least, when using a Linux-based system. And my hardware is pretty dated.

I have real issues with what benefits the Cloud advocates claim to be bringing to the table...

The closest I have come to cloud apps was throwing a multi-chip, multi-board into the next cube for a group of engineers to run Matlab 64 bit for plotting.

That rocked.

Actually, I have been using "Cloud" apps for many years- e-mail, Wikipedia, Engineer Tool Box, GlobalSpec, a variety of search engines...

I do not need a new business model for these.

I would never, ever consider using the Internet for a critical situation- one can never be assured of access, and the hosting outfit likes to change things around such that I sometimes have trouble figuring out how to use it (I recently had to abandon my long-term e-mail app- hotmail- because MS essentially rendered it inoperative).

I know some people that rave about Google Sketchup, but i fail to see where that offers anything that I don't already have available...

I have experimented with storing things in the "Cloud"- documents, etc. that I want to share with the world (MS Skydrive, Adrive, LinkedIn Slideshare, etc.). Not easy. Not reliable. Better to just e-mail copies. If e-mail is up and running.

this is better than sketch up

http://www.sweethome3d.com/userGuide.jsp#installation

you tried all the bad cloud solutions

try the leader

http://docs.google.com/demo/edit?id=scAANpBaDlCsF800UPXF1TEsz&dt=spreadsheet#spreadsheet

1. If I were designing a home for myself, and did not have existing CAD software already available, SweetHome3D might be an alternative, but what would be the motivation for using the on line storage instead of downloading the program and using it locally? I don't see it as the appropriate tool for, say, designing a gear train, or an injction molding die...

2. When I follow your link to Google Docs, the instructions come up in Spanish (since I am accessing from Latin America, I suppose), while the demo sheet is in English. Independent of which language I really want to work in, this is supposed to be convenient? And why would I use an on line spread sheet or word processor when my operating system comes with built in word processors and spread sheets? What happens when my link goes dead in the middle of entering, say, a thousand or so data points? Do you really want to store all your financial records on a system that will give them to the IRS without a warrant?

You are going to have to do better than that to convince me that the Cloud has anything legitimate to offer...

since you work by yourself from a single location

The cloud doesn't have anything to offer you...

it's as simple as that

whether or not there is any possible value depends on what you need to do & what the time frame is

if I were trying to transmit 1000's of data points I would use

http://www.bittorrent.com/

If I were trying to enter them I would figure out a way to automate the process or hire a secretary

The cloud really offers a cheap alternative for those, the majority of the people, who do not intensively utilize their computers, but at odd times want to use some cheap app to do something minor that isn't of a higher security nature, importance or complexity. You know so they don't ned a high quality laptop, but something cheaper and potentially smaller to keep track of their tips at restaraunts for self awareness, or some other odd thing they would like to do but could never justify the cost of buying a laptop for. In theory you could reduce some of the hardware cost to individual owners, who do not need/use the technological capabilities of a lap top regularly.

RCE-

Your view of the benefits of the cloud are fairly consistent with mine- however, the industry is not marketing the cloud that way- the industry wants us to believe the "Cloud" can be everything for everyone. If you read the hype coming from the industry mavens, they would have you believe that no one will ever again need anything more than a dumb terminal.

The market will decide. Things like SweetHome3D will appeal to a general mass audience and will fulfill a specific need, but I do not see major architectural firms abandoning AutoCAD any time soon...

Well obviously marketers take such perspective, they don't want to risk not realizing any potential market shares. Every marketer does it, cast a wide net and see who you catch (as long as they can afford the service, and sometimes not even that).

BTW, Along a similar line, the engineering company I belong is huge and uses a online licensure agreement that means if we disconnect from the internet we can not start Autocad, because we can not go to autodesk to verify our license. The corporation owns a huge block of licenses, and keeps them centralized, however, they have even more seats that are autocad capable. They play a game based on the idea that not all licenses are being used by all the seats all the time. I have tried at a couple of times in the past to get on autocad and found we didn't have sufficient licenses at that time. In that case we kind of have some of the worst of both worlds, the limitations on access, and the cost of the hardware. On the plus side we have the DWGs local and once the license is confirmed if we don't shut autocad down, it won't have to re-verify licensure.