Page 34 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

MANA GEMENT STRATEGIES F O R THE CL OUD R EV OL UTION

Critics Charge That the Cloud Isn’t Real

Let’s pause here for a second and concede that many com-
puter industry leaders look at discussions of “cloud comput-
ing,” perhaps including the one given here, and don’t see
anything there. To them, it’s all gaseous vapor. Hard-bitten,

skeptical technologists examine cloud discussions and see only
a set of technologies that they’re familiar with and have under-
stood for years. They don’t consider them remarkable except
perhaps in scale, certainly not a breakthrough. They see a form
of plain vanilla Web services at work. What’s the big deal?
These critics can be an antidote to boundless enthusiasm
about the cloud. Some enthusiasts have something old to sell,

but with “cloud” newly added to the product name. This adop-
tion of the term by marketers has produced its own backlash.
Still, that doesn’t explain why some discerning observers view
the term with a skepticism bordering on sarcasm.
Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, the commercial database
company, says that all the talk about cloud computing is a de-
bate over style, not substance. The computing industry “is the
only industry that is more fashion driven than women’s fash-
ion,” he said during an earnings call with Wall Street analysts

in the fall of 2008.
“Finally a tech exec willing to tell the truth about cloud
computing,” applauded a respected writer on San Francisco’s
online news network, CNet.
More recently, in a speech before the Churchill Club in
San Jose on September 22, 2009, Ellison elaborated: “All
‘cloud’ is is a computer attached to a network with databases,

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