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[perkiset]

Ah, I get it. So, in a nutshell cloud computing makes it easier to adopt Saas as a business model. Size doesn't matter, one can get started with very little resources.

Indeed. And you can get as big as you want REALLY FAST without having to modify anything in the hardware architecture (outside, of course, of purchasing more power)

If this thing actually picks up desktop apps are gonna be sooo dead.

How about desktops themselves? A large portion of what I'm doing for a big medical client is to install thin clients - they will ostensibly be castrata machines that can do nothing but log on where I tell them.

I've wanted to create web apps for some time now but always drop the idea thinking of the potential maintenance and scalability (if the app actually becomes popular, but i'm an optimist ) problems. I think this info is just what I needed to get started.

Different topic. In about 2000 I decided that I'd never again write an app for a dedicated GUI/OS ... it'd be all web apps. And although the learning curve on that (especially back then) was just nasty, it has now paid off in a big way. Although cloud computing will be a future architecture for the server side, it really doesn't inherently change the way the client acts. Consider: what you run in a cloud is Apache hosting your web-based app. When you become overly popular, you increase the size of the pipe and the capabilities of your clouded instance.

[isthisthingon]

Keep in mind the various levels of cloud computing.  Perk is talking about building the infrastructure level and cdc is talking about using it:



Platform as a Service (the middle) is like Azure and Force.com where you get an entire platform to work with and literally program to behave as you wish.  Application, sometimes confusing because it's also referred to as SaaS, is everything from gmail to other online services that may be highly configurable but are also constrained and well defined.

Salesforce (Force.com) has an Application aspect to it which is their CRM offering and therefore lives at the top of this pyramid.  However, Force.com has an extremely powerful platform with a model/view/controller programmable cloud world that you can literally do just about anything you can imagine in.  That aspect of Force.com's blended offering lives squarely in the Platform (as a Service), or the middle of this cloud.

Here's one of the great masters of the Infrastructure as a Service: http://www.3tera.com/.  Their demo tells the story very well from an IaaS standpoint: http://www.3tera.com/demo.php

[vibratingquickly]

Different topic. In about 2000 I decided that I'd never again write an app for a dedicated GUI/OS ... it'd be all web apps. And although the learning curve on that (especially back then) was just nasty, it has now paid off in a big way. Although cloud computing will be a future architecture for the server side, it really doesn't inherently change the way the client acts. Consider: what you run in a cloud is Apache hosting your web-based app. When you become overly popular, you increase the size of the pipe and the capabilities of your clouded instance.

Yep, I understand that. Hosting on the cloud doesn't change a whole lot on the server side but its one less thing I need to worry about, hence it would let me invest some time in the frontend ajax and UI stuff. No more nagging voice that says "but what if your server breaks!".

[perkiset]

"but what if your server breaks!".

PRECISELY.

[john.v.schmitt]

True:  it's if, not when.
Things like Google battling China add risks  ("Will my google apps not work in my China office?")  But, that's a minor speed bump on the inevitable path.

"Will IT folks have jobs?"
Yes.  Better ones.  Instead of working inside non-IT-focused companies who neglect & disrespect them, they'll work at the SAAS/cloud companies who really have better skills & practices & managers.

"Risks"...
****Unless your business focus is on IT/Apps/etc:
....then there are already bigger risks in managing your own IT.  You are probably already neglecting your IT staff, and perhaps even outsourcing the labor.  It's a very small step to further outsource it to the cloud.  In fact, most businesses would trust a well managed IT company than really trust themselves to manage IT. 

[perkiset]

Welcome to The Cache, John.

@ IT Folks and jobs: I half agree. The days of lots of pocket protectored nerds walking about will dissolve IMO. There'll be more of a stratification  ... more of a caste society. There'll be walkaround monkeys that fix the "Why won't my computer work, even though it's unplugged" nonsense and then there will be the lords of the data center - essentially the managers of the new upcoming utility company, called cloud services. They will be few, because there just won't be as much need.

On the other hand, this might be a renaissance for coders whom can now deal more with simply getting a result, than worrying about the platform they are living on. I personally am quite excited.

[isthisthingon]

  to the Cache John

"Will IT folks have jobs?"
Yes.  Better ones.  Instead of working inside non-IT-focused companies who neglect & disrespect them, they'll work at the SAAS/cloud companies who really have better skills & practices & managers.

@ 1/2 agree: I don't think John is claiming anything about an increase or decrease in the raw number of IT jobs in the cloud age.  But I definitely agree that the quality of jobs, work environments, and expertise surrounding those in the SaaS model far surpass those where an IT department is just a necessary evil.  Nothing feels less secure than realizing that the only reason you have a job is because they haven't figured out a way to automate your job out from under your feet. 

Teachers, doctors, attorneys, sales people, artists, manufacturers, dentists, actors, writers, those in services industries, architects (as in buildings), etc., have always been burdened with the need to become amateur IT specialists.  They have been expected to learn client software and even determine "appropriate" backup strategies based on the "good" advice from someone at the Geek Squad. 

Expecting people to become amateur IT specialists just to remain competitive in their field has always been inappropriate and was just waiting for technology to mature to the level where this counterintuitive approach to business became outmoded.  I believe this is the dawn of that tipping point, or the birth of a mixed metaphor   I expect the cloud age to not only improve what IT can do for the world but also improve what the world outside of IT will accomplish.  SaaS companies will be less forgiving of casual hackers claiming greater experience than they have.  But this serves everyone, including them.

Welcome again John!!  Great to see you here.

[nop_90]

After playing with GAE (google app engine) i could see that cloud is where it at.
In some cases Saleforce etc is over kill.

Basically GAE is Django on a cloud.
I think it is also possible to stick cherrypy on GAE etc.

Again just like there are different types of cars, there are different types of clouds