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The Increasingly Irrelevant Desktop OS
You don’t need an operating system anymore. You need applications. Think application virtualization. |
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Comments (4)
I manage a small network of Linux scientific and technical workstations and servers that do some pretty heavy duty computing. We have no intention of using the cloud to do this work. It is too slow and not designed for the type of work we do. So we will continue to work with high-powered workstations that are not in the cloud. We will get some of our data from the cloud but will continue to work that and other data locally because our approach is more powerful and secure. The media is so hung up on everybody doing their work in the same way that they don't understand that some of us do not work the same way as their mythical everybody.
Well, as insidious as the whole cloud hype is, you must admit that it is brilliant marketing. The term Cloud alone is sheer genius. It's that fuzzy, incomprehensible thing that just makes stuff happen.
They could never pull off the amount of bamboozling if they named the beast by its true name; client/server architecture. That would alert people that there are two sides to the thing.
No, the cloud is a peaceful, fuzzy thing, slowly drifting with you wherever you go. While you go off gallivanting in the Cloudscape, the service providers go off monitoring your every move and selling that information to the highest bidding marketeer. But let's not make too much of that. It is but a small price to pay for the abdication of your own responsibilities and you get "trouble free" computing in return.
I wonder how they will like the icy cold waters, after these lemmings have jumped off this particular cliff.
They could never pull off the amount of bamboozling if they named the beast by its true name; client/server architecture. That would alert people that there are two sides to the thing.
No, the cloud is a peaceful, fuzzy thing, slowly drifting with you wherever you go. While you go off gallivanting in the Cloudscape, the service providers go off monitoring your every move and selling that information to the highest bidding marketeer. But let's not make too much of that. It is but a small price to pay for the abdication of your own responsibilities and you get "trouble free" computing in return.
I wonder how they will like the icy cold waters, after these lemmings have jumped off this particular cliff.
I've already made it a promise to myself to not read ZDNet diatribes, which no offence but are posted frequently at linuxtoday. I prefer reading articles by Bruce Byfield or Glyn Moody for more respectable speculations.
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Uh-huh. What makes the tap launch the app?
Well, that's where we part company. I do care what OS is on my "local device". I don't want to be an unwilling host to another botnet node. I want to control what is running on my device.
The article is mostly about being able to support systems remotely. Ken wants to do it from his iPhone? Okay, to each his own. But, not all computer users are administrators. Typical users tend to accumulate personal data, which isn't even mentioned. That's because one's personal data, in the "cloud" scenario, belongs to the cloud. No, not the mythical computer ether angels that shepherd your applications. Your data is stored on a faceless corporation's rackspace fileserver. You want your data? Pay up, buddy. What's that, you say? You want protection for your data? Security is so old-school. No one worries about security in the "cloud". Trust us, we've got your back. And if said "cloud" provider has an outage, and you can't access your data, well you should have planned for contingencies by keeping backups with another "cloud" provider!
As for this ubiquitous, non-distinct and non-interactive desktop OS? Well, it's embedded on a chip in the hardware. See? Instant-on! You're browsing the "cloud" in no time at all! Trust us. We've got your backdoor ... er, I mean back.