And That, Young Cloudwalker, Is Why You Fail

Just when you thought the misconceptions regarding cloud computing couldn’t get any worse…they do.

We have, in general, moved past the question “what is cloud” and onto “what do I need to do to move an application to the cloud?” But the question “what is cloud” appears not to have reached consensus and thus advice on how to move an application into the cloud might be based on an understanding of cloud that is less than (or not at all) accurate. The problem is exacerbated by the reality that there are several types or models of cloud: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. Each one has different foci that impact the type of application you can deploy in its environment. For example, moving an application to SaaS doesn’t make much sense at all because SaaS is an application; what you’re doing is moving data, not the application. That makes it difficult to talk in generalities about “the cloud”. 

This lack of consensus results in advice based on assumptions regarding cloud that may or may not be accurate. This is just another reason why it is important for any new technological concept to have common, agreed upon definitions. Because when you don’t, you end up with advice that’s not just inaccurate, it’s downright wrong. 


Published May 26, 2010
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