Hi Dan,
If you had asked the question: "Is cloud computing an overused, over-hyped marketing catch phrase AND an important trend?" Then, I could simply reply:
YES.
The word "cloud" has become so overused that the difference between "the cloud" and "the Internet" is roughly the difference between "Kleenex" and "facial tissue"
But, it would be a shame if all the hype completely obscured the trend. Taken literally, cloud computing = Internet computing. The network is the computer.
http://chaotic-flow.com/obscured-by-clouds-meaning-vs-marketing/
The Web 1.0 Internet revolution arose as a result of the universal interface offered by the Web browser. Suddenly, anyone could access any global computing resource over the Internet as long as they had this one, standard client application. I like to think of this as application ? user interoperability.
The shift we are seeing now on the Internet is driven by increased interoperability on the server side, or rather application ? application interoperability.
The application-application interoperability of the cloud is a fundamental technology shift that has the potential to unleash the same kinds of disruptive economies-of-scale and disintermediation of legacy business models by aggregating computing resources in the same fashion that Web 1.0 did by aggregating users.
But, this time the war won?t be fought at the user level between brick-and-mortar businesses and Web businesses. It will be fought at the application level between traditional closed, proprietary on-premise software and open, standards-based cloud offerings.
by Joel York
at http://chaotic-flow.com
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