Commoner’s Guide to the Cloud April 1, 2010

Recently I’m sure you’ve noticed a lot of conversations about clouds around the water cooler.  They go a little something like this:

“The cloud allows computers to share resources to run applications.”
“Oh, like mainframe computing?”
“No, it takes advantage of several computers to run the application.”
“Oh, like network computing?”
“No, it uses those computers on the internet.”

“Oh, like application service providers?”
“No, it dynamically chooses which hardware to use.”
“Oh, like load balancing?”
“No, you don’t care how it works.”
“I don’t care?  Is your head in the clouds?”
“Now you got it!”
“And you want me to spend a million buck on this?”
“Exactly!”
“You really are lost in a cloud.
“Everyday.”

(Sorry I must have been channeling Robin Williams (search “Robin Williams Golf” on YouTube at home) or Abbott and Costello.) Unfortunately you’ve had your heads down on your own problems and we thought we’d clear the fog a bit and help you.  Think of us as your lighthouse.

Lee and I are developing a simple glossary of terms for the Cloud. Why will you need a glossary?  With the cloud you will get all sorts of new terms.

Angels - personnel responsible for managing cloud services.

Cloud Seeding – Installation of new computers to access the cloud.

Evangelist – Proponents of the clouds.  * Note - not eVangelist.

HARP (Human Assistance Response Program) – Help desk for clouds,often used by Angels

Lighthouse – A protected area at the edge of cloud.

iDo2.0 – Apple’s offering for cloud computing

perlE-Gates - Microsoft’s Portal for the cloud (what they should have called Azure)

Thunder - Escalation of cases in the HARP program.

UFO (Unidentified File Object) – Viruses in the cloud.

Please help us in creating the definitive guide below.