Why did we settle on “cloud computing” as a name for this technological wave we’re all riding? What does it say about our worldview, that we didn’t prefer “grid computing,” for example, or “utility computing,” or any of the other early synonyms?
The snarky answers are obvious:
- “Cloud” connotes “vague” and “hazy”—and that’s a good match for the precision of our thinking. We’re making it up as we go along.
- “Cloud” computing leaves us feeling cold, clammy, and depressed. Remember the “brain cloud” in Joe Versus The Volcano?
- Deep in our hearts, we believe there’s stormy weather in IT’s future. (Too many programmers hail from Seattle…)
- Can you imagine “gridwashing?” Nah. Didn’t think so.
- We all love Pooh bear’s “I’m just a little black rain cloud” song, and we just had to work it into our boring software universe somehow.
Personally, I favor #5. I mean, who doesn’t love Pooh?
However, I think the industry’s preference for the term “cloud computing” actually reveals some subtle truths that we’d all do well to ponder. Here’s the serious list:
Clouds accrete over time.
They grow organically, not by overarching a priori design. Instead of starting from scratch and building cloud from the ground up, CIOs will get to public cloud through private cloud built from existing infrastructure.
Clouds have vague and fluid boundaries.
The present trend to fuzzify the line between public and private cloud through cloudbursting and hybrid cloud will intensify. Organizations won’t just have one cloud or one cloud strategy; they’ll use a bit of everything. BYOD will become “bring your own corner of the cloud” (your Dropbox account, your EC2 account, your Rackspace servers) with you when you work at an enterprise.
It’s difficult to say what’s “in” a cloud and what’s not.
A lot of the hullabaloo about whether something is pure “cloud” or not feels silly to me. If it rains on a duck, there’s probably a cloud somewhere in the sky, even if its exact coordinates are debatable.
Clouds drift in response to macro forces.
Nobody is at the helm in cloud computing. There is no analog to Apple rolling out an iPhone and capturing the public’s imagination on what a smartphone ought to be. The good news is that cloud will end up where IT headwinds need to push it. The need for vendor responsiveness is high.
“Cloud” is a good metaphor for swarming behavior.
We talk about “clouds of mosquitos,” and we could imagine “clouds of nanobots.” There is clear structure and purpose, but it’s far more complex and interdependent than a simple grid. (Think about the importance of goal-directed policy, given this metaphorical connection.)
I’m curious to hear what other Freudian slips you think might be lurking in “cloud computing.” Please add a comment with your insights.
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