You raised a good point regarding using the cloud…or online computing…to keep shared documents updated. However, cloud or online computing is not used just as a massive storage area. The concept as put forth by Google, Microsoft and others are for the actual applications to reside centrally on the web and be used via 3G or broadband connections.

Good syncing involves more than just a massive storage area. Isn’t that what Live Mesh is about?

As for applications, I know that’s part of c**** computing, and I wasn’t excluding that. I was just giving one example of how it was still useful even when people keep off-line versions of their files.

By the way, there was already a perfectly good name for that c**** applications: Software As A Serice (SaaS).

I also see your point about the OLPC using an antenna to improve WiFi reception…but the OLPC hasn’t seemed to be a major factor at this point.

True, but it’s meant to be (at least in education). I wonder how many people in poor Africa have heard of the iPhone vs. OLPC or Classroom Computer.

What’s more, it may extend the range of the WiFi reception, but how far and how stable and fast is the connection?

When Negroponte showed it on “60 Minutes”, I think he said the connection was about 2 miles (or maybe kilometers). It may not be that far all the time, of course, but even in the U.S. we get dropped calls and areas of no coverage.

My point was more that maybe we can address the problem with different solutions. In one sense, the OLPC could be viewed as an early Netbook. As most (all?) Netbooks use WiFi, not cellular, the analogy isn’t too far off.

A network is only as good as the infrastructure under it, and online computing needs as reliable a network as possible..therefore a widespread, robust infrastructure with built in redundancy. That is not easy to find in the third world right now, and likely to become less so as countries that normally give aid for such things are looking to cut costs.

True, but being behind can actually be an advantage at times. I recall reading that some third world countries weren’t bothering with landlines any longer; they were just going to cellular.

Similarly, maybe countries without a good cellular network can go straight to WiMax or something else.

I’m not saying the problem doesn’t exist, just that it might not be so bad. (Of course, I’ve never been worried about the “digital divide”, although that could just be because I’m one of the “haves”.)

Lastly, I used the term Cloud computing because it is the accepted industry term..and used it that often because the piece I wrote was ABOUT Cloud computing. In other articles I don;t use it at all, so maybe it will balence out? I could have called it anything really, since I was discussing the trend, not the term. I can’t do anything about the use of the term Cloud Compouting overall, however..maybe send a note to Intel?

I understand why you used it; I just wanted to see if the term annoyed other people as much as it does me. ;)

And the drinking game reference was meant in fun (like when Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin on SNL said, “And for those of you playing the drinking game at home, ‘maverick’.”)

Steve

I was discussing popular perception and awareness in my comments about the iPhone.

Regarding off the scale, it was an idiom to descibe a non-specific value. I will use your statement instead, and thereofre changed the sentence accordingly.

As far as being deskbound, I more meant that to indicate having to work from a full PC or laptop. You are correct that there have been ways to browse the net from mobile devices for years now, but as far as the popular perception and the consumer market are concerned the iPhone made that far easier and “normal”. People seem to like the user experience of Safari on the iPhone a good deal more then web browsers on PDAs or other smartphones..go figger. At any rate, I will change that term as well since as you said, desks don’t really figure into it.

You raised a good point regarding using the cloud…or online computing…to keep shared documents updated. However, cloud or online computing is not used just as a massive storage area. The concept as put forth by Google, Microsoft and others are for the actual applications to reside centrally on the web and be used via 3G or broadband connections. If due to unreliability someone keeps portable copies of the same applications, then that does diminish the “essential” nature of online computing.

I also see your point about the OLPC using an antenna to improve WiFi reception…but the OLPC hasn’t seemed to be a major factor at this point. What’s more, it may extend the range of the WiFi reception, but how far and how stable and fast is the connection? A network is only as good as the infrastructure under it, and online computing needs as reliable a network as possible..therefore a widespread, robust infrastructure with built in redundancy. That is not easy to find in the third world right now, and likely to become less so as countries that normally give aid for such things are looking to cut costs.

Lastly, I used the term Cloud computing because it is the accepted industry term..and used it that often because the piece I wrote was ABOUT Cloud computing. In other articles I don;t use it at all, so maybe it will balence out? I could have called it anything really, since I was discussing the trend, not the term. I can’t do anything about the use of the term Cloud Compouting overall, however..maybe send a note to Intel?

Mobile internet use has gone off the scale due to the Apple wundergadget and once people get used to surfing the net on the bus or on line at the movies thanks to 3G and Cloud computing, they will never go back to being totally deskbound.

While the iPhone has certainly opened people up to smart phones, I’ve got two bones to pick with your claims.

First, mobile Internet use has not gone “off the scale”. The last I heard, it was still less than 1% of Web browsing. Granted, the iPhone seems to have increased online mobile usage by a factor of 2-10, perhaps, but it’s not off any scale.

Second, implying the iPhone is responsible for people not being “totally deskbound” seems like more overstatement. Laptops showed people the benefit of computing away from their desks well before the iPhone. PDAs (non-connected ones, like the Palm and Pocket PC) made people’s data truly portable. WiFi enabled mobile connectivity for both laptops and PDAs (without requiring an expensive data plan). So many people were freed from their desks long before Apple produced the iPhone.

[S]avvy types will keep key documents and portable applications with them on backups just in case…and if they are already doing that, what is the point of the Cloud?

I’m going to assume that’s not a rhetorical question. The point is that you can pick up the latest versions of the document from anywhere. Your local copy may go out of date when you don’t have connectivity, but when you regain it, you can refresh it (without having to go back to your home or office).

That’s the same reason Microsoft Exchange OTA sync is useful. Sure, you could use ActiveSync or WMDC, but then you always have to be at (or near) your PC to get updates. With OTA sync, you get updates anywhere you have connectivity.

Cloud computing depends on infrastructure and communications networks to be in place. Much of the Third World still lags far behind in such things, meaning that businesses and individuals in those areas will simply not have access to Cloud computing, even if they do have PCs.

That depends on the PC. The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) PC was specifically designed for third-world connectivity. It included long-range WiFi (thanks to the flip-up antennae).

Yes, some infrastructure will still be needed, but the better than range of your device, the less infrastructure will be necessary.

Steve

P.S. Am I the only person who hates the term “cloud computing”? I suspect it got that name only because system diagrams typically depicted the Internet as a cloud-like entity. What’s wrong with “online computing” or something, indicating the need for a data connection?

You used “cloud” so often in the article that I thought some people were playing a drinking game or something. :D

One, while I totally agree Netbooks cannot compare to deskops or most notebooks in terms of power, as dual and quad core chips become the norm most people don’t use all that power. For most office and internet tasks (short of graphics editing) even a standard Atom is enough. For power users or hobbists the added poer of th Cloud wil very welcome however.

Also, when I mention the need for PC owners to embrace the concept of multiple computers, I meant that more in terms of embracing netbooks (and therefore the cloud). Even Intel stresses that Netbooks are intended to be a second or third computer. As people get more comfortable with owning and using multiple PCs, the cloud will by nessecity spread.

Z