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Cloud Computing is uniquely an Amazon invention the way smartphones are uniquely an Apple invention. Which is to say there’s a sense in which you’re right and

Cloud Computing is uniquely an Amazon invention the way smartphones are uniquely an Apple invention. Which is to say there’s a sense in which you’re right and a sense in which this is an absurd statement..

mr_toad 6y ago
There were data centres before Amazon, but there was nothing like EC2. Infrastructure as code made all the difference.
- Aperocky 6y ago
  This. No one before used RPC calls to provision actual infrastructure as a public business.
- progval 6y ago
  > but there was nothing like EC2. Infrastructure as code made all the difference. I believe Grid5000 did it before Amazon [1]. It opened in 2005 and allowed users to automatically book hardware (with OAR [2]) and install their own images (with Kadeploy) on dedicated hardware. [1]: https://www.grid5000.fr/w/History https://www.grid5000.fr/w/History [2]: https://www.grid5000.fr/w/Getting_Started#Reserving_resources_with_OAR:_the_basics https://www.grid5000.fr/w/Getting_Started#Reserving_resource...
adventured 6y ago
It's definitely not absurd, even if they only deserve a share of the credit. There's nothing absurd about the way Amazon and Apple defined cloud computing and smartphones. They deserve as much credit as anyone for the services / products we know today as cloud computing and smartphones. The version of the smartphone that took off in sales, took over the culture and has become a human staple globally, was entirely defined by Apple's iPhone. No other company did that, it was Apple, period. To not recognize them as the prime mover of smartphones would be absurd.
- scottyah 6y ago
  I'm certainly no expert on what makes a phone a smartphone, but it seems like Blackberries with their email and small web functionality really kicked off the movement of phones being able to do more than calls and texts.
  - xxpor 6y ago
    Don't forget windows mobile. And Palm!
- rrdharan 6y ago
  > Amazon and Apple defined cloud computing and smartphones Absolutely. You’ll note that the OP’s word choice was invented - defined would indeed be appropriate and not at all absurd.
koolba 6y ago
Amazon invented cloud computing the way Ford invented the automobile.
- bernulli 6y ago
  I'd argue everyone who has heard of Ford is most likely familiar with Mercedes, whereas the number of people familiar with Amazon will likely be many orders of magnitude larger than the people who know who invented cloud computing. Not quite an apt comparison, imho.
mark-r 6y ago
And Thomas Edison didn't invent the light bulb. History doesn't look on him any less kindly for that.

mr_toad 6y ago

There were data centres before Amazon, but there was nothing like EC2. Infrastructure as code made all the difference.

Aperocky 6y ago
This. No one before used RPC calls to provision actual infrastructure as a public business.
progval 6y ago
> but there was nothing like EC2. Infrastructure as code made all the difference. I believe Grid5000 did it before Amazon [1]. It opened in 2005 and allowed users to automatically book hardware (with OAR [2]) and install their own images (with Kadeploy) on dedicated hardware. [1]: https://www.grid5000.fr/w/History https://www.grid5000.fr/w/History [2]: https://www.grid5000.fr/w/Getting_Started#Reserving_resources_with_OAR:_the_basics https://www.grid5000.fr/w/Getting_Started#Reserving_resource...

adventured 6y ago

It's definitely not absurd, even if they only deserve a share of the credit. There's nothing absurd about the way Amazon and Apple defined cloud computing and smartphones. They deserve as much credit as anyone for the services / products we know today as cloud computing and smartphones. The version of the smartphone that took off in sales, took over the culture and has become a human staple globally, was entirely defined by Apple's iPhone. No other company did that, it was Apple, period. To not recognize them as the prime mover of smartphones would be absurd.

scottyah 6y ago
I'm certainly no expert on what makes a phone a smartphone, but it seems like Blackberries with their email and small web functionality really kicked off the movement of phones being able to do more than calls and texts.
- xxpor 6y ago
  Don't forget windows mobile. And Palm!
rrdharan 6y ago
> Amazon and Apple defined cloud computing and smartphones Absolutely. You’ll note that the OP’s word choice was invented - defined would indeed be appropriate and not at all absurd.

koolba 6y ago

Amazon invented cloud computing the way Ford invented the automobile.

bernulli 6y ago
I'd argue everyone who has heard of Ford is most likely familiar with Mercedes, whereas the number of people familiar with Amazon will likely be many orders of magnitude larger than the people who know who invented cloud computing. Not quite an apt comparison, imho.

mark-r 6y ago

And Thomas Edison didn't invent the light bulb. History doesn't look on him any less kindly for that.