MicroSoft betting the company on cloud computing

[XLjedi]

70-90% of MS staffers are now devoted to this!

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/13305-...ud-computing-/

The situation does not bode well...

[jwilliams]

Originally Posted by aaronblood

70-90% of MS staffers are now devoted to this!

http://www.neoseeker.com/news/13305-...ud-computing-/

The situation does not bode well...

yeah its a sad state of affairs....

eventualy everything digital will be cloud DRM based.... Yes even consoles.

the question is where will it end..... will i need my DVD player online to watch my DVD's, my hifi online to play CD's etc.

Guess people need to make a stand.... and if they dont sell products, then they might rethink... until then its gonna just get worse.

[SteamWake]

and this is related to SH5 in what manner?

General topics is down that way

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[XLjedi]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

and this is related to SH5 in what manner?

General topics is down that way

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The relation is painfully obvious... but OK fine. Move it if you like.

[Yak]

It never ceases to amaze me just how out of touch people in the IT industry and people who do have access to the latest tech, seem to think that because they've got it, everybody must...

While I fear cloud computing will eventually become ubiquitous requirements, I do wonder how companies like MS with massive market dominance across all areas, plan on accommodating the millions of users that are unable to comply with DRM?

That said, having 70% of staff working on it, doesn't mean they will have 70% of projects 'in the cloud'

[Schunken]

This week there was a short story in german TV about a company who still use cloud computing.

The company do digital render buildings in and outside that was in planning state.

He was quite happy because he do not need expensive hardware anymore for his projects. With a slider he can demand processor power in realtime from the cloud. And when he do not need processor power anymore he just move the slider down.

And end of each month he get a bill for the prozessor time he use.

On the desktop of the workers only was a little device for acsess to the cloud.

I remember I was render a litte animation movie I made and my computer was busy 36 days! With acsesss to a cloud it maybe done in 5 minutes.

And for the gamers: You do not need buy hardware anymore....If in the last years you want keep up with the hardware you was nearly every 2 years need replace Graphic card and/or Prozessor and motherboard....

Every coin has two sides, its not all bad...


Andreas

[Ships-R-Us]

Who is Offering On Demand Software? - The companies below are already established in the On-Demand software or SaaS business. These companies charge their customers a subscription fee and in return host software on central servers that are accessed by the end user via the internet.

• Salesforce.com (CRM)
• Google (GOOG)
• NetSuite (N)
• Taleo (TLEO)
• Concur Technologies (CNQR)
• Info Technologies (IT)

[gutted]

So let me get this straight...


The way things are heading .. Hypothetically a game would run on a cloud. You would be sending the input packets.. and they would stream you the final rendered frames?

That sounds kinda killer. No more buying a graphics card every 6 months to a year or hoping you meet the minimum specs.

As for general computing.. no thanks. I'll keep my files on MY machine. Thats a whole can of "privacy" worms i dont want any part of.

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by gutted

So let me get this straight...


The way things are heading .. Hypothetically a game would run on a cloud. You would be sending the input packets.. and they would stream you the final rendered frames?

That sounds kinda killer. No more buying a graphics card every 6 months to a year or hoping you meet the minimum specs.

As for general computing.. no thanks. I'll keep my files on MY machine. Thats a whole can of "privacy" worms i dont want any part of.

This "device" could be a console with internet connection. The only limitation is what video screen you have available and your bandwidth.

Mind you I agree wiht the privacy issue. There are some advantages to having local storage for personal data. In a medium to large business though this is never going to be a concern, as any product by it's employees will be copyright of the compnay anyway.

[Hitman]

The funny thing is that cloud computing could actually KILL Microsoft's business.

Windows is a program destined to work in your personal computer and be flexible for most things you want to do, presenting them in easily accesible windows that can be opened/closed/moved, etc.

But if you enter the world of cloud computing, then you might as well have a very simplified form of basic interface in your desktop, while everything else you execute is in the remote server and owned by the creator. Once you start using that remote server, you can move to their interface, etc. (Because the program owner can create it directly in C++ or whatever language and remotely install the libraries in your PC, or simply run it fully there and let you just "see" it, i.e. your PC is nothing but a window to their desktop. And as such, he doesn't need MS windows at all) so the only thing for which you really need software on your desktop is to connect to the internet. Which renders Windows mostly useless

[TarJak]

Originally Posted by Hitman

The funny thing is that cloud computing could actually KILL Microsoft's business.

Windows is a program destined to work in your personal computer and be flexible for most things you want to do, presenting them in easily accesible windows that can be opened/closed/moved, etc.

But if you enter the world of cloud computing, then you might as well have a very simplified form of basic interface in your desktop, while everything else you execute is in the remote server and owned by the creator. Once you start using that remote server, you can move to their interface, etc. (Because the program owner can create it directly in C++ or whatever language and remotely install the libraries in your PC, or simply run it fully there and let you just "see" it, i.e. your PC is nothing but a window to their desktop. And as such, he doesn't need MS windows at all) so the only thing for which you really need software on your desktop is to connect to the internet. Which renders Windows mostly useless

I disagree, but not entirely. You still need to have software on the server and there is nothing to say that per user charging is going away, in fact it is the model cloud computing is based on. Licenses for each user will still get charged but the real saving for businesses comes from reduction in support costs not in licenses.

With solid state hardware on the desktop with no moving parts and only centralised server's holding software installs the servicing costs of distriburint computing can be almost halved.

My company is currently going through an excersise to move our desktop environment into this mode of operation and our conservative saving estimates show a minimum of 46%! Mind you we are only planning to us MS for the OS and browser not the office suite or database software. So in that aspect they will be losing some business.

Our MS rep is working hard to compete but TBH they are not getting too far as they still don't have a workable online office productivity suite yet that does not require something like Citrix.

[Schunken]

Maybe we will see a GNU cloud...a free cloud with free software....


Andreas

[Decoman]

Hrm, I just want a modular OS.

Oh, and with hardware, I want working high quality equipment, not this Logitech Illuminated keyboard of mine, which have outright squeaky keys. And I have already changed this keyboard one time before because of wonky keys that give off too much noise.

[Arclight]

Originally Posted by gutted

That sounds kinda killer. No more buying a graphics card every 6 months to a year or hoping you meet the minimum specs.

You do realize it means paying a subscription? Considering they would need massive amounts of extremely powerfull gaming machines and ridiculous bandwith, it would be a fairly pricey one too.

And for the record, my over 2 year old card still meets all recommended specs.

[CaptainHaplo]

Repost of : http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=1280975&postcount=33 which I made awhile back in another thread.

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"Cloud" computing has been around for decades. In previous incarnations one would simply use what was called a "dumb terminal". However, when the .net framework came out was when MS made it clear they wanted to move toward more a centralized system.

Cloud computing has its uses. There are situations where it outperforms a server/client or peer network structure. Almost every major business that has order, shipping and fulfillment departments uses a form of cloud computiing. If you have ever worked for a company that used an AS400 or Unix style order tracking package, you have worked with cloud computing.

Simply put, the cloud is where all the work is done, instead of locally on your machine. Its not scary or the end of computer freedom. Heck - MMORPGs and such are an adaptation of cloud computing. All the real work in the game goes on at the servers - your "terminal" simply has to do the processing work of how to display the outcomes.

Its also not applicable to the vast majority of games. Requiring an internet connection is not cloud computing either - because your PC is still doing all the work - it just needs to phone home for permission to do that work.

I won't have SH5 until OSP is removed, but don't confuse cloud computing with a simple ET "permission to run" setup.

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What I didn't put on there was WHY cloud computing is not applicable for home and game usage. For home usage, your simply looking at a matter of scalability. Even Microsoft cannot economically sustain the infrastucture required to cloud the work done on millions of PC's sitting in people's homes. They could NOT make money at it - because the cost to the consumer will be higher long term than in the consumer simply has a pc and purchases software.

As for gamers - not only are you dealing with the issues of scale and cost, but there is not enough bandwidth available for all the processing to take place remotely. Games like City of Heroes or WoW or Lord of the Rings Online use cloud computing to a point - but your pc at home that you play on still must have significant horespower to be able to see all the pretties. That won't change, because its not just as simple as sending packets that say "draw this" and a dumb terminal being able to do it when it come to "3d" graphics. Its important to note that there is not hardware out there designed for such usage either.....

People overreact when they see this. Yes - some things are moving into the cloud - because they can best exist there. But its not the where the entire industry can go. M$ has tried to steer it there for years, and they still find that there are some issues they cannot get around. In 20 years that may change - but they won't anytime "SOON" (TM).