<incom> Cloud computing

[Steve Cisler]

Today The New York Times has a long piece about Google vs. Microsoft (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/technology/16goog.html). Eric Schmidt, the CEO, says that 90% of what knowledge workers want to do can be done through cloud computing apps and resrouces. In other words, you don't need the products that make Microsoft so successful.  Cloud computing depends on having server farms all over, increased bandwidth for more and more people, and a willingness to trust the provider of the apps, whether it's Zoho or Google. Google says that 2000 businesses a day are signing up for Google Apps.

Some people are tracking the construction of these data centers. They use an enormous amount of power (Google has a new one going up at some distance from Portland, Oregon, on the Columbia River.  Microsoft is building one in Siberia, and it will be self-cooled!

However, electricity as well as bandwidth remain a big problem for many people and businesses all over the world. In talking with the social entrepreneurs who trained at our Center this August, all of them mentioned different infrastructure problems, and electricy was at the top for most, even places like Capetown. That said, if you can't count on power or basic connectivity are you going to try and use web-based apps? Perhaps, but you won't want to depend on them when you need your document, and this will be the case whether you are using Linux, Mac, or Windows.