The "Cloud"



  • Americans!



  • @JoeCool said:

    Americans!

    Hmm .. severe weather causes power outages and infrastructure damage .. and in order to use my cloud computing I need the power to be on at the datacentre and I need a working infrastructure between me and the cloud .. hmm .. I wonder if severe weather could interfere with cloud computing? Nah .. it'd never happen.

    And probably the best comment I saw from the /. story was basically
    when trying to explain cloud computing, replace "the cloud" with "somebody else's computer"

    So "Our data is backed up in the cloud" becomes "Our data is backed up on somebody else's computer" .. etc



  • I still think "The Cloud" is one of the dumbest terms in existance. We called it "The Internet" for 15 years and that worked just fine, now they say "The Cloud" instead and it confuses laypeople and just sounds stupid.

    Really. I almost expect the term to have been made up by the PHB from Dilbert.



  • @OzPeter said:

    Hmm .. severe weather causes power outages and infrastructure damage .. and in order to use my cloud computing I need the power to be on at the datacentre and I need a working infrastructure between me and the cloud .. hmm .. I wonder if severe weather could interfere with cloud computing? Nah .. it'd never happen

    If you believe this is what those who took the survey were thinking, you are giving them undeserved credit.



  • @mott555 said:

    I still think "The Cloud" is one of the dumbest terms in existance. We called it "The Internet" for 15 years and that worked just fine, now they say "The Cloud" instead and it confuses laypeople and just sounds stupid.

    You're overlooking an important difference between "The Cloud" and "The Internet": outsourcing.

    internet + outsourcing = cloud

    And as we all know, outsourcing is influenced by and gets interfered with a variety of miscellaneous external factors, such as weather.

    Also, why are we making fun of lay people for not understanding poorly coined technical terminology..? Ha, those stupid American peons probably think SOAP is good for them. Ha!



  • @Xyro said:

    Also, why are we making fun of lay people for not understanding poorly coined technical terminology..? Ha, those stupid American peons probably think SOAP is good for them. Ha!

    That is not a valid comparison at all. SOAP is used by developers and would obviously be unknown to consumers. "The Cloud" is something actively marketed to consumers.



  •  Stormy/Rainy weather may hinder cell phone reception, so it would probably interfer with cloud usage from mobile devices.



  • @JoeCool said:

    SOAP is used by developers.
     

    Well.



  • What exactly is the point of this article? They are dumb because they don't fully understand every service they use? I'm all for poking fun at americans but this article is a little too full of itself. Just because I use GPS doesn't mean I have to understand the theory of relativity.

    51% of the surveyed Americans think that stormy weather can interfere with the functionality of the cloud.
    Define functionality. If the definition includes having access to your files then yes, stormy weather can interfere with the functionality of the cloud.



  • @JoeCool said:

    That is not a valid comparison at all. SOAP is used by developers and would obviously be unknown to consumers. "The Cloud" is something actively marketed to consumers.

    I still don't get why companies insist on marketing "The Cloud" to regular consumers. A lot of people still don't know what the internet is, why would they understand cloud services? If the service being offered is cloud storage, just tell consumers "we'll back up your shit so you don't lose it and can get it anywhere". If their offering actual cloud computing to consumers like with the chromebook...well that's just silly, why would someone want some server to do processing that any laptop or smartphone could do? (note: I'm not including computationally intensive research and stuff like that).



    Cloud services are a way of implementing services provided to consumers and should be marketed as such.



  • @DOA said:

    What exactly is the point of this article? They are dumb because they don't fully understand every service they use? I'm all for poking fun at americans but this article is a little too full of itself. Just because I use GPS doesn't mean I have to understand the theory of relativity.

    51% of the surveyed Americans think that stormy weather can interfere with the functionality of the cloud.
    Define functionality. If the definition includes having access to your files then yes, stormy weather can interfere with the functionality of the cloud.

    Nobody is asking them to know how it works -- but really, if they think the data is actually stored in a cloud in the sky, and storms could interfere, then yes.. they are dumb.



  • @Xyro said:

    Also, why are we making fun of lay people for not understanding poorly coined technical terminology..?

    "The cloud" isn't technical terminology, it's yet another reason why, if you're in marketing, you should kill yourself. Proper geeks already came up with an actually useful metaphor for this sort of thing-- server farms.

     



  • @lethalronin27 said:

    @JoeCool said:
    That is not a valid comparison at all. SOAP is used by developers and would obviously be unknown to consumers. "The Cloud" is something actively marketed to consumers.

    I still don't get why companies insist on marketing "The Cloud" to regular consumers. A lot of people still don't know what the internet is, why would they understand cloud services? If the service being offered is cloud storage, just tell consumers "we'll back up your shit so you don't lose it and can get it anywhere". If their offering actual cloud computing to consumers like with the chromebook...well that's just silly, why would someone want some server to do processing that any laptop or smartphone could do? (note: I'm not including computationally intensive research and stuff like that).



    Cloud services are a way of implementing services provided to consumers and should be marketed as such.

    But doing it that way doesn't give it a cool buzz word that everyone is talking about.
    Like Apple calling it a "Retina Display" instead of just saying 960×640 pixel resolution screen.



  • Americans! Will cutting government subsidies for crops interfere with server farms?



  • @JoeCool said:

    instead of just saying 960×640 pixel resolution screen.
     

    The distinguishing factor of a Retina display is the dpi, not the dimensions in pixels.



  • @Xyro said:

    Americans! Will cutting government subsidies for crops interfere with server farms?
     

    51% thinks Yes!



  • @JoeCool said:

    @lethalronin27 said:
    @JoeCool said:
    That is not a valid comparison at all. SOAP is used by developers and would obviously be unknown to consumers. "The Cloud" is something actively marketed to consumers.

    I still don't get why companies insist on marketing "The Cloud" to regular consumers. A lot of people still don't know what the internet is, why would they understand cloud services? If the service being offered is cloud storage, just tell consumers "we'll back up your shit so you don't lose it and can get it anywhere". If their offering actual cloud computing to consumers like with the chromebook...well that's just silly, why would someone want some server to do processing that any laptop or smartphone could do? (note: I'm not including computationally intensive research and stuff like that).



    Cloud services are a way of implementing services provided to consumers and should be marketed as such.

    But doing it that way doesn't give it a cool buzz word that everyone is talking about.
    Like Apple calling it a "Retina Display" instead of just saying 960×640 pixel resolution screen.

    So TRWTF is marketing. Too bad it's so effective...



  • @dhromed said:

    @JoeCool said:

    instead of just saying 960×640 pixel resolution screen.
     

    The distinguishing factor of a Retina display is the dpi, not the dimensions in pixels.

    Closer. It's the combination of DPI and the device being held a typical distance from the viewer's face, thus exceeding the angular resolution of the human eye.

     



  • @mott555 said:

    I still think "The Cloud" is one of the dumbest terms in existance.

    No, it's "clever" because the Internet is always drawn as a cloud icon in your PowerPoint presentation, so calling it "the cloud" is kind of an inside joke to everybody who's had to sit through 37,923 boring PPTs starring that icon.

    In other news, please kill me.



  • @lethalronin27 said:

    So TRWTF is marketing. Too bad it's so effective...

    Too bad it's so effective... what?

    Try finishing your sentences next time,smart guy.



  • @Xyro said:

    Americans! Will cutting government subsidies for crops interfere with server farms?

    The government is trying to interfere with my server farm? Those bastards!



  • @Zylon said:

    @dhromed said:

    @JoeCool said:

    instead of just saying 960×640 pixel resolution screen.
     

    The distinguishing factor of a Retina display is the dpi, not the dimensions in pixels.

    Closer. It's the combination of DPI and the device being held a typical distance from the viewer's face, thus exceeding the angular resolution of the human eye.

     

    Way to miss the whole point, guys!



  • @Zylon said:

    @lethalronin27 said:

    So TRWTF is marketing. Too bad it's so effective...

    Too bad it's so effective... what?

    Try finishing your sentences next time,smart guy.

    Oh I'm so sorry Zylon, next time I post I'll try to use an ellipsis properly.



  • @JoeCool said:

    Way to miss the whole point, guys!
     

    I got the point, and went past it like a driver zooming past a smelly hitch-hiker.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Zylon said:

    @Xyro said:
    Also, why are we making fun of lay people for not understanding poorly coined technical terminology..?

    "The cloud" isn't technical terminology, it's yet another reason why, if you're in marketing, you should kill yourself. Proper geeks already came up with an actually useful metaphor for this sort of thing-- server farms.

    WTF. "Server farms" are not at all the same thing as "The Cloud." Though they're certainly part of it.



  • @JoeCool said:

    Nobody is asking them to know how it works -- but really, if they think the data is actually stored in a cloud in the sky, and storms could interfere, then yes.. they are dumb.
    True, but keep in mind that at no point does the article actually say this, they just imply it in typical media fashion.



  • @boomzilla said:

    WTF. "Server farms" are not at all the same thing as "The Cloud."
     

    What, as in, "not all server farms are clouds, but all clouds are server farms"?

    fuck, I don't even know what cloud exactly is.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @dhromed said:

    @boomzilla said:

    WTF. "Server farms" are not at all the same thing as "The Cloud."
     

    What, as in, "not all server farms are clouds, but all clouds are server farms"?

    fuck, I don't even know what cloud exactly is.

    Well, consider the generic Cloud, as TFA talks about. That would include stuff like Amazon Web Services, and I'm sure there are server farms there. But what about something like Folding@home. That's another something that happens in the Cloud, but with stuff other than server farms.

    So, saying Server Farms are The Cloud is like saying the WWW is the Internet.



  • @DOA said:

    @JoeCool said:

    Nobody is asking them to know how it works -- but really, if they think the data is actually stored in a cloud in the sky, and storms could interfere, then yes.. they are dumb.
    True, but keep in mind that at no point does the article actually say this, they just imply it in typical media fashion.

    True, and that is what makes the whole thing funny, and adds to the WTF. I would expect someone who has never heard of the Cloud to say "I don't know" and not "I guess a storm would affect the Cloud". But, how was it worded?



  • @JoeCool said:

    That is not a valid comparison at all. SOAP is used by developers and would obviously be unknown to great unwashed masses.



  • @dhromed said:

    fuck, I don't even know what cloud exactly is.

    But that's the beauty of it! Now marketing can sell it to you and you don't even know what you're buying and if it's correctly implemented or even working! But it sounds so nice! And all the other people are getting in the cloud, I better star using it too...



  • @boomzilla said:

    But what about something like Folding@home. That's another something that happens in the Cloud, but with stuff other than server farms.

    Nah that's "cloudsourcing".

    There, the ultimate obnoxious buzzword.

     



  •  The Cloud, explained in terms everyone can understand.



  • @dhromed said:

    @boomzilla said:

    WTF. "Server farms" are not at all the same thing as "The Cloud."
     

    What, as in, "not all server farms are clouds, but all clouds are server farms"?

    fuck, I don't even know what cloud exactly is.

     

    It's a huge mass of solidified water kept at the atmosphere by ascendent air currents.

     



  • @Mcoder said:

    It's a huge mass of solidified water

    A big chunk of ice?

    @Mcoder said:

    kept at the atmosphere by ascendent air currents.

    I think you accidentally described a hover-comet. Hover-comets are dangerous phenomena, but they do not delete your MP3s like clouds do.



  • @Zylon said:

    @lethalronin27 said:

    So TRWTF is marketing. Too bad it's so effective...

    Too bad it's so effective... what?

    Try finishing your sentences next time,smart guy.

     

    What the fuck is a time,smart?

     



  • @atipico said:

    And all the other people are getting in the cloud, I better star using it too...

    I actually had an interview where the technical interviewer said almost this exact thing. I mentioned that I've written some simple server side stuff, and his response was "Well don't you think that's pretty useless these days? We use the cloud, it's just better than a server!" (not verbatim). I asked him WHY it was better, he just said that everything about it was better. Needless to say, I didn't get the job.



  • @DOA said:

    51% of the surveyed Americans think that stormy weather can interfere with the functionality of the cloud.
    Define functionality. If the definition includes having access to your files then yes, stormy weather can interfere with the functionality of the cloud.

    Perhaps the 51% are even being very clever, and have seen through the over-egged marketing-driven promises of redundancy, reliability and high availability made about "the cloud" that keep on turning out not to work very well.

    See for example this story about a lot of apps hosted on Amazon's services being knocked out by - you guessed it - a storm!



  • @mott555 said:

    now they say "The Cloud" instead and it confuses laypeople and just sounds stupid.

     

    No, it only confuses english speakers. Most other countries don't have this problem. They use "cloud" but have no idea it has anything to do with weather :) The same way selling a software named "windows" was only a problem for you :)

     



  • @Zylon said:

    @boomzilla said:

    But what about something like Folding@home. That's another something that happens in the Cloud, but with stuff other than server farms.

    Nah that's "cloudsourcing".

    There, the ultimate obnoxious buzzword.

     

    No, that's distributed computing. I don't think you can call it The Cloud if it's private user's computers, right?

     



  • @tchize said:

    Most other countries [...] use "cloud" but have no idea it has anything to do with weather :)

    How about you speak for your own country? Most people in my country know what the word "cloud" means. However, since the weather variety is normally called "wolk", the distinction is made a little easier. That, however, doesn't mean "most countries" don't know the word cloud has anything to do with the weather. In fact, mott555's point wasn't that people (and native English speakers in particular) confuse cloud computing with puffs of water in the sky. It was that "cloud" is an unclearly defined term. The hidden premise, here, in case you missed it: you have to be a real moron to hear someone talk about cloud computing, and wonder how they're going to store their ones and zeroes up in the air (I mean wouldn't they just come right down again when it rains?).


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @dhromed said:

    @boomzilla said:
    But what about something like Folding@home. That's another something that happens in the Cloud, but with stuff other than server farms.

    No, that's distributed computing. I don't think you can call it The Cloud if it's private user's computers, right?

    I could see why someone like Amazon might want you to think that. But now you're just saying it's only The Cloud if you pay for it, and that seems like a minor distinction compared to distributing your computing across the Internet.



  • @boomzilla said:

    But now you're just saying it's only The Cloud if you pay for it,
     

    I have not once said this.

    I can understand how someone might think I suggested it, only if I assume that all or most cloud services are paid for, but I do not know that, and therefore any such suggestions are entirely your own fabrication.

    I'm saying that if a user of something like Seti@home or folding@home buys 1 or more computers (regardless of form factor or capabilities or intended use by the computer's manufacturer) and sets them up as a dedicated computation park for folding and seti-ing, then it becomes a cloud (paid or not), which is a non-minor distinction from private users lackadaisically donating a bit of their idle time to computing these same things.

    I'm sure some users have done this, and then yes, I'd totally call folding@home as being done "in the cloud". But that's not the service creators' intent. 



  • @dhromed said:

    I can understand how someone might think I suggested it, only if I assume that all or most cloud services are paid for, but I do not know that

    Doesn't Canonical offer a free-as-in-beer cloud product with Ubuntu? Or am I talking out of my rear end again (would not be the first time!).



  •  What's Ubuntu?



  • @dhromed said:

     What's Ubuntu?

    Not much, what's Ubuntu with you?

    Wait, I may not have that right....

     



  • I'm naming my next FTP server the-cloud.

    "It's saved on the-cloud." "I'm downloading it to the-cloud." "The-cloud is down."



  •  @MiffTheFox said:

    I'm naming my next FTP server the-cloud.

    "It's saved on the-cloud." "I'm downloading it to the-cloud." "The-cloud is down."

    There's an XKCD for that.

     



  • @da Doctah said:

    @dhromed said:

     What's Ubuntu?

    Not much, what's Ubuntu with you?

    Wait, I may not have that right....

     

    Ubuntu? I hardly know u!

     



  • No, I described a cloud.

     @blakeyrat said:

    A big chunk of ice?

    Normaly winds aren't strong enough to keep a big chunck of ice on the air. Clouds are normaly composed of matter that resemble more snow than ice, but sometimes it is composed of small (ok, define small) chuncks of ice.

    By the way, what is a hover-comet? I can't find it on google.

     


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