Cloud Computing: History Doesn't Repeat, But It Does Rhyme

Shades of the 1970s! Back in that ancient period we had cloud computing. Really. If you're a young 'un, let me take you on a brief tour of the world of computers and networking back then as experienced by a small subset of the population, including me.

• Computers were almost always large mainframe or minicomputers located at a distance from users which they accessed using dumb terminals and (usually) proprietary dedicated networks or 300/1200 bps telephone modems. All the applications and data storage were centrally located. We called it time-sharing, but it is essentially what we now call cloud computing.
• We could look to see who was logged onto these central computers, and if they were we could send short text messages to each other. Instant messaging did exist back then. When these computers were networked we could even message across the continent and overseas.
• Store and forward text messages became widely available by the early 1980s, extending the more rudimentary systems available in the 1970s. We had email, too.
• I would like to say we had webcams, but sadly the digital imagers we had back then had extraordinary poor resolution, a few shades of gray, were terribly expensive, and came with no software tools to retrieve and manipulate images. Nevertheless it was done by the more adventurous with lots of spare time.

Of course it isn't the same this time around. Cloud computing builds on a vastly different environment. The personal computer, cell phone and internet made for a remarkable transformation. Now everyone is connected, from pretty much everywhere, rather than a few geeks talking to each other from terminals to which they had to travel to use.

Cloud computing in today's sense is far superior, with only a passing resemblance to the time-sharing systems of an earlier era. The best thing about it in my opinion is that we get to regain the freedom of being untethered from our little electronic boxes that contain all of our applications and data. This means we can reach our personal data environment from anywhere, without the risk engendered by carrying expensive, fragile and bulky hardware around with us (and probably without adequate backups). With all the computers I use, and the cranky, unintuitive networking that Windows provides, I go crazy sometimes when trying to find some file I stored somewhere on one of these boxes, or perhaps even on one of several web-based services. Ideally, cloud computing will sort out this mess, making all of our lives a little easier.

Will Google win this particular battle? Maybe, though I don't think it matters since there will be competitive alternatives. Better still, I am hoping that enterprises will be able to adapt these cloud computing platforms and replace the many and proprietary networking tools that confuse and confound both their employees and IT departments. IT departments will also win since they will be able to centralize software and hardware maintenance, even do backups and provide social networking tools for their users, rather than trying to manage a sprawling population of individual PCs each with all their own little hardware and software quirks, and even quirkier users.

It'll be just like the 1970s all over again. Except this time I'll be a comfortably dumb user, and not working in IT on those old mainframe behemoths in too-cold machine rooms.