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IMO a better question is why does every Web app now qualify as being "in the cloud?" Cloud computing started off (if I remember correctly) as being related to o

IMO a better question is why does every Web app now qualify as being "in the cloud?" Cloud computing started off (if I remember correctly) as being related to on-demand servers (coined around the time Amazon EC2 was released?). Now it's like everything is the cloud. Like the Web turned into the sky.

deleted 16y ago
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sliverstorm 16y ago
As soon as being "in the cloud" became progressive and good, everyone who could spin it began billing their services as "cloud-based". Use as a marketing buzzword transformed it's colloquial meaning.
djb_hackernews 16y ago
I've caught one of our sales guys during a pitch describe our webapp (which is our product) that "we use cloud computing, so there is no software that you need to download to use our service"
sp332 16y ago
"The cloud" was originally a metaphor for the Internet between you and the server you were actually talking to. You know, routers, various ISP's backbones, DNS servers, BGP etc, basically the part of the Internet that you don't have to care about to get your work done. There was some talk, at least a decade ago, that data and/or computation could be extended into the "cloud" as well. For example, instead of asking a specific server for a specific file, you just ask "the cloud" for some information. It's an extension of "the part of the internet you don't have to care about to get your work done" to include location and ownership of disks and CPUs. It's pretty much come true, with distributed computing and peer-to-peer networks.
- loup-vaillant 16y ago
  > It's pretty much come true, with distributed computing and peer-to-peer networks. That is the "good" cloud. The "buzzword" cloud, however, is much more about centralized computing and client-server networks. In other words, about many helpless customers being dependent on a few, powerful, corporations.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

sliverstorm 16y ago

As soon as being "in the cloud" became progressive and good, everyone who could spin it began billing their services as "cloud-based". Use as a marketing buzzword transformed it's colloquial meaning.

djb_hackernews 16y ago

I've caught one of our sales guys during a pitch describe our webapp (which is our product) that "we use cloud computing, so there is no software that you need to download to use our service"

sp332 16y ago

"The cloud" was originally a metaphor for the Internet between you and the server you were actually talking to. You know, routers, various ISP's backbones, DNS servers, BGP etc, basically the part of the Internet that you don't have to care about to get your work done. There was some talk, at least a decade ago, that data and/or computation could be extended into the "cloud" as well. For example, instead of asking a specific server for a specific file, you just ask "the cloud" for some information. It's an extension of "the part of the internet you don't have to care about to get your work done" to include location and ownership of disks and CPUs. It's pretty much come true, with distributed computing and peer-to-peer networks.

loup-vaillant 16y ago
> It's pretty much come true, with distributed computing and peer-to-peer networks. That is the "good" cloud. The "buzzword" cloud, however, is much more about centralized computing and client-server networks. In other words, about many helpless customers being dependent on a few, powerful, corporations.