Hey You, Get off of my Cloud!

Cloud computing is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet). The name comes from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams. Cloud computing entrusts remote services with a user's data, software and computation. Cloud computing providers offer their services according to three fundamental models: Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS).

I guess it was bound to come to this. There are always technology geeks ready to pounce on choke points in business and cash in. No-one loves the system in place today where you have to rely on the company computer kid to come to your rescue every time you accidentally delete a very important proposal. No one likes that awful feeling of degradation when the problem is magically fixed by logging out and logging on again. If you are like me, though, you can’t help thinking it’s a damn conspiracy. And it’s only gonna get worse as the techies manage to seize control of your data on some cloud somewhere. They mean well of course. Technology is your friend. Or is it? What happens when all the devices and computers stop working? (Don’t ask me how this could happen but just suppose it did). It will be pandemonium and utter panic when/if it happens. But maybe then the pendulum will swing back like it did when everyone realized their houses were “underwater” because of that crazy time when getting a mortgage was the best way to live way beyond your means in a McMansion in a neighborhood of McMillionaires.

How about coming up with (TaaS) Typing as a Service. With this platform, your secretary or administrative assistant is responsible for making a file copy of your document and retrieving it when you need it (which is usually, like, never). It might give re-birth to a completely retro-business that could put millions of people back to work. (Can our society return to and re-learn QWERTY keyboard skills instead suffering from tunnel carpal thumbs? Might we live long enough to see such a phenomenon?)