How reliable is cloud computing? (Flickr user kky (cc: by-nc-sa))
It used to be a bad thing to have your head in the clouds. Not anymore. These days "the cloud" is exactly where tech companies like Google want you and your business to be. Working in the cloud means no more software downloads, but instead, using online applications like Google Docs or their very popular webmail client, Gmail. But yesterday, Gmail went offline for around two hours, sidelining productivity and prompting apocalyptic imagery among the digerati. In the wake of yesterday's Gmail blackout, we speak with John Abell, New York bureau chief of Wired.com, to learn about the nuts, bolts, merits and pitfalls of separating our computers from our data.
"I think anyone in the business would say: in a cage fight, would Google and Microsoft be equal partners in the reliability contest? You'd have a laughing match. Everything, to some extent, is unreliable."
—John Abell, New York bureau chief of Wired.com, on the risks of "cloud computing".
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Comments [2]
it took 100 minutes for google to fix the problem, but it was google that fixed the problem, not the users.
for folks with a strong IT dept who rarely have to fix their own problems that may not seem like a big deal. in fact they might prefer having their own IT dept fix problems.
however, for not-so-technical home or SOHO users who are on their own, having somebody else fix problems without having to call tech support or geek squad or whatever may be a good thing.
also, at least on my account no data was lost.
it was a forced vacation, like a digital snowday! i think it was good for us to be reminded that google is not the internet, and that work is not always pounding away on a keyboard. Go have a face to face meeting! or just look out a window and think for a second!
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