Cloud: More important than the PC?
Summary
Topics
The association for public sector IT professionals said the adoption of the technology is unstoppable, in much the same way as the adoption of PCs was decades ago once organizations realized their business benefits.
While the PC may have given managers their first taste of business computing through spreadsheets and word processing, cloud computing's combination of broad information sources with easy to use processing power - without the need for significant up-front costs or technical skills - could prove more revolutionary, Socitm believes.
The flexibility and potential cost savings of using applications accessed via the web will fuel adoption in the public sector, according to the organization.
Socitm Insight principal associate Chris Head told silicon.com the "fortress" approach of keeping all IT within the confines of the corporate network can't be maintained.
With the average user already starting to use web-based applications independently of the corporate IT department, Head said there will be growing pressure on management to look at the technologies.
"Unless the IT managers get on board pretty quickly and start to embrace the technology, they're going to be isolated," he said.
"We don't want to stumble into another schism between IT and the business - we actually want to use this opportunity to integrate the approach together and jointly work out how you can get something really worthwhile out of it, rather than it being another source of alienation," he added.
"I would imagine you're going to see the seeds of [adoption] within about 18 months, purely because of the financial situation that public sector organizations are going to be encountering."
According to Head, there remains security and business continuity risks of having data outside the organization but these will merely slow adoption rather than hinder it as they will be overcome fairly quickly.
Socitm says public sector organizations should therefore prepare a strategy for adopting cloud computing services by carrying out research and discussing the business benefits with users.
This article was originally posted on silicon.com
Talkback Most Recent of 18 Talkback(s)
-
Without the PC there is no cloud
I'm not denying the fact that the cloud has gained importance, and I'm not denying that you can gain access to the cloud through non-PC devices. But the PC is still where the content is initially generated, and without content you have no cloud. Other non-PC devices simply do not have the power to produce content in great quality and quantity.
Michael Kelly24th Feb 2009 -
Still, cloud based applications to create content and do programming are
proliferating. Sure, early programming and content creation was all done on PCs. In the future, IDEs will be in the cloud, not on the PC.
DonnieBoy24th Feb 2009 -
Michael Kelly24th Feb 2009
-
That's good and bad
Particularly bad for Microsoft. Because the OS becomes less relevant to the user experience. As Dell is discovering on netbooks:
http://blog.laptopmag.com/one-third-of-dell-inspiron-mini-9s-sold-run-linux
And return rates for Linux aren't any higher than XP.
Cloud applications will only accelerate this trend. I see Windows becoming a specialty OS for CAD, gaming, and some specialty applications.
Already starting.
Chad_z24th Feb 2009 -
Who will own the copyrights?
Didn't Adobe have a web-based version of photoshop, where they said any material uploaded for use becomes their property? (eep)
HypnoToad24th Feb 2009 -
RE: Cloud: More important than the PC?
Why pay a monthly fee when I can buy it once and own it. The cloud is good for some people but not me.
zmud24th Feb 2009 -
And yet without the cloud
you never could have communicated that opinion to those that are reading it.Michael Kelly24th Feb 2009 -
never?
I am sure most of the people here don't use any clouds to post their messages. Once in a while I use my magic carpet but the rest of the time - same old fashion way.
pupkin_z24th Feb 2009 -
zmud24th Feb 2009
-
And PCs lock out users with viruses
and trojan horses and even bad software installs. Millions of them too, just one at a time, which makes it that much harder to fix the problem.
I agree that the cloud is still dwarfed in importance by the PC, but your lines of argument aren't the reason why. The PC is no more or less perfect than the cloud when it comes to reliability.Michael Kelly24th Feb 2009 -
More Hype
Insecure, more bandwidth needed, connectivity problems, higher costs, subscriptions, no thanks. Been there, done that.
nitecourt@...24th Feb 2009 -
So everyone shoud do it eh?
I get wary when someone says that a product or service is good for everyone. That opinion usually comes from someone who stands to benefit from the statement, or it very naive. I have never known that to be true.
ron.cleaver@...24th Feb 2009 -
RE: Cloud: More important than the PC?
It sounds like one more tool for Echelon to me. Since the US military ultimately owns the internet, it can monitor it without a search warrant and this just leaves innocent companies open to undue scrutiny just like the so-called Patriot Act has done.
dtolar@...24th Feb 2009 -
RE: Cloud: More important than the PC?
Wow! Another marketing blitz on cloud computing. "Adopt or be destroyed!!!!"
Data Ownership!!!!! What about what happens when I jump on the band wagon and all of a sudden my data is in the hands of unknown third parties.
Who is going to guarantee vendor standards for data formats??? The market??? The government???
The technology may be here already but the important part isn't. The important part is the sociology. Yeah, I know, it isn't "cool" to talk to someone about using technology in a responsible manner. It is cool to bring out a bunch or random colors and sound bites that contain no actual information, force feed it to everyone, and hope that intelligent people don't look behind the curtain and find out the emperor doesn't have any cloths on.
When the first Fortune 500 company or wealthy private individual gets taken down because of weaknesses in how cloud computing is governed at a legal level, then may be the problems will get fixed and wider adoption can actually take place.
Right now anyone who hands over their data to the cloud is basically handing it out to the public. Anything you want to remain private can't go to the cloud at this time.
Marketing aside, who is actually doing something constructive to address Data Ownership right that favor the consumer and vendor standardization???
mr197224th Feb 2009 -
Why do you think we HAVE the PC?
We had the "cloud" back in the 70's. It was called "The Mainframe". You used a dumb terminal (think web browser) to access centrally stored applications and data. What happened? Users got tired of waiting for their applications and data to appear on the "cloud" and that's how the whole "PC revolution" started.. Now the "experts are all calling the cloud the next big thing. Ah yes, "Back to the Future"
ddmattison24th Feb 2009
Talkback - Tell Us What You Think
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Facebook Activity
