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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Can Microsoft Conquer Cloud Computing?

Microsoft is hoping it can leapfrog the competition yet again, with an operating system dubbed Windows Cloud.

By Robert X. Cringley

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Credit: Technology Review

No big technology company thrives on competition the way that Microsoft does. Whether the bogeyman is Apple's graphical user interface, Novell's Netware network operating system, or the Netscape Navigator Internet browser, Microsoft seems to enjoy meeting each challenge with a huge technical change of direction. And according to sources inside Microsoft, the next such about-face will come later this month, in the form of what is being called, for now, Windows Cloud.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer mentioned Windows Cloud for the first time last week in two European speeches but said little about exactly how the new operating system will work. All that has been said in public by Microsoft's head of cloud computing, Amitabh Srivastava, is that the project is "risky," which is quite something from a guy whose last project was the late and troubled Windows Vista operating system.

Cloud computing is an extremely hot area right now. A cloud is made by linking together any number of generic Intel-class computers so that they act like a single large, distributed computing platform. An application running on a cloud can more easily scale up for larger audiences and is more resistant to failure. A computing cloud may contain tens of thousands of computers distributed around the Internet running applications on the nearest, least-loaded server or across a fleet of machines. Such applications can be anything from a website server to a virtual desktop computer accessed by a thin client or a Web browser.

Google's many Web applications run on a cloud of machines that may well contain more than 100,000 nodes (the company won't say). Dozens more companies, both large and small, are working on computing clouds because they could save money and energy, and enable more-powerful applications. Some researchers see clouds as the successor for everything from the PC to the mainframe.

But among the many questions not answered until now about Windows Cloud is how seriously the OS is being taken by the company itself. The same people within Microsoft suggest that the company is taking it very seriously indeed.

"The cloud stuff isn't just another enterprise product," explains a source who asks not to be named. "It is going to impact everything we do, all of the product groups. Consumer and enterprise are going to have to figure out where they fit into the cloud paradigm."

Precisely how the cloud-computing paradigm will fit with Microsoft's operating systems and applications remains a mystery for now. But one thing is clear: if Microsoft is to develop the technology needed to dominate the market, it will need to catch up quickly. "The shift to cloud-based computing is analogous to our shift to the Internet in the late '90s," the source adds. "[That] changed the direction of the company and impacted everything we did."

The best-known cloud operating today with public access is Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which will soon also support Windows Server applications.

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cloud computing Microsoft operating system Windows

Comments

  • [no subject]
    jpm000001 on 10/15/2008 at 2:42 AM
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    How much did microsoft pay to place this ad?
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • >>> Microsoft will DIE just two-three years after the GoOS release >>>
    Gaetano Marano on 10/15/2008 at 3:05 AM
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    .

    Microsoft will DIE just two-three years after the day Google releases its own FREE operating system!

    something like this (simulated) "GoOS":

    http://newgoos.blogspot.com/2008/09/goos-screenshot-on-sony-vaio.html

    .
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Latency & Compatibility
    Mapou on 10/15/2008 at 3:17 AM
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    Latency is one of the problems that is going to delay the widespread deployment of cloud computing. People want instant response from their applications. There is no point that I can see in having mundane apps like word processors running on a cloud. Spreadsheets and database apps? yes, but only for big projects.

    The other problem is compatibility. It's a nasty jungle out there. Virtualization only works up to a point. There are just too many different types of OSes, APIs, languages and processors. Cloud computing will not come of age until and unless everything is standardized at the fundamental level. I don't see that happening any time soon because computer science is in a transition period. Nobody in the business knows how the parallel programming crisis is going to play out. One thing is certain; what we have now is not working, which means that processor technology is not going to look like anything that we are currently familiar with. A radical paradigm shift is in the works whether we like it or not.

    In conclusion, any talk of cloud computing for the masses being around the corner is just wishful thinking.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: Latency & Compatibility
      DennisBuller on 10/18/2008 at 9:53 PM
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            I agree and disagree with this comment.
         Obviously Microsoft is not going to make a product that will make their existing OS obsolete.
         So no matter what way they do it, you will still probably have to use Vista. The Cloud Program will go on one computer or a server that will act as the "processing power policeman". Deciding if the operation on one computer needs the servers and other computers processing power.
        As for the problem of differing processors and equipment, BOINC uses the method of finding two computers that are the same configuration and sending them both the same data to process. If they do not match, the info is thrown out.
         Obviously this will not work with a set of computers, or a set of computers and a server.
        But the "cloud" program (no matter where it is) could have data problems that it feeds into all the connected computers to verify they process the information "correctly". Multiple levels of processing tests that the computer must "pass".
        If the computer that is being "tested" fails, the cloud system will exclude it and notify IT that they have an issue.
        All of this above is an educated guess. I could be totally wrong. I am not even a computer guy.
        However if they get it to work in the way suggested above, or any other manner of ways; they will have found a way to keep Moors Law going. Without changing any hardware.....
        I read Bill Gates book a while back. He knows that the technological "giant" of one decade is almost never the same one in the next decade.
        This is why when something new comes along, they either buy it, steal it, or copy it.
        They are constantly looking for the next Netscape.
        And at this point they think Cloud computing is it. I think they are right. If they pull this off, they will ensure another decade of Microsoft dominance...
      Rate this comment: 12345
  • Cloud and Utility Computing - Hype and Reality
    jeffhardy on 11/25/2008 at 10:52 AM
    Posts:
    1
    In mid-November 2008 I sat on a panel discussion at PuCon in LasVegas.  Amazon Web Services joined me on that panel.  They were promoting their service and I was trying to separate real benefits from sales hype.  I got so much feedback about that presentation that I followed it up with an article:
    http://www.smartertools.com/blog/archive/2008/11/20/cloud-computing-challenges-benefits-and-the-future.aspx

    As Cloud Computing gains buzz we must remember what it truely is and, maybe more importantly, what it is not.

    Be well,
    Jeffrey J. Hardy
    http://www.smartertools.com
    Rate this comment: 12345
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