So yes, the spread of powerful computing certainly is to be lauded. I'm not denying that, but I feel it's more to do with a driving down of costs than anything.

So yes, the spread of powerful computing certainly is to be lauded. I'm not denying that, but I feel it's more to do with a driving down of costs than anything. If (and I admit that's a big if) big iron vendors had paid attention and not rested on their laurels, I truly believe they could have easily morphed into "cloud" providers, and possibly even brought it on sooner, like a decade earlier. But the activity of keeping secrets is still with us, even in this age of widespread FLOSS. Just look up how many software patents are still held. It's no good trumpeting your organization's advantages if everyone has the same advantages.