Why Cloud Computing is a Farce

A few days ago, I had a conversation with a good friend of mine, Ollie Read, a talented web developer from my hometown. The conversation came onto this buzz that we know as ‘Cloud Computing’.

Cloud Computing is basically an umbrella term for any applications that are based online and used by a group of people. These applications can be used from most web-browsers and are most commonly used by private organisations who want to keep everything in a manageable ‘cloud’.

One recent and prevalent example of large organisations using cloud computing is the recent move that the Los Angeles government took by moving their applications to Google Apps.

Web-Based Applications Are Nothing New!

What companies are doing to create a buzz is give something old a new name. By doing this, they’ll excite companies and get people using these applications. I’m not saying the individual applications aren’t new, I’m just saying that it’s hardly impressive what they’re doing.

After all, is an e-commerce site, a blog or a content management system not a web-based application? The answer is yes. They may be different types of web-application, but if one were to explain this to an excited person about to start paying for cloud computing, they wouldn’t be as happy.

A Bold and Stupid Move

I’m not saying that cloud computing isn’t revolutionary or even intuitive, or necessarily bad to move to cloud computer in all situations, I’m just saying that it’s a bold move to make and, in most of the time, an incredibly stupid one.

In the introduction I spoke about the Los Angeles government moving all of their documents and emails to Google Apps. This may seem like the company is moving forward and progressing but to me, it seems like they’re entrusting a lot of sensitive emails and documents onto a system that has previously been accessed illegitimately before. If you remember, only a few months back Gmail was hacked along with Yahoo! and Hotmail.

I could go on about this for years, but here are a list of disadvantages to cloud computing:

• More of a security threat than ever before. Your documents will be hosted on a server that is located in another company’s premises! Just one click of a button and these files could go public. Just look at the British government, renowned for losing files again and again – could you imagine this system in their hands? It’s like giving a baby an open bottle of aspirin and expect them not to have a bit of a nibble.
• More likely to have downtime. Web-based applications will never be 100% reliable. I’m not saying that applications that aren’t based online are, I’m merely saying that by using cloud computing, companies are opening themselves up to even more problems. What will they do when the servers of these companies go down, they can’t access files, or if there’s a problem with their internet? They’ll be wasting money on staff who are just sitting around. It’ll be their fault and they won’t be able to do anything about it because I’m sure that somewhere in the Terms & Conditions, the cloud computing company would’ve covered their own backs.
• Unaware of the future. What if their contract with the company runs dry, or if that company goes bankrupt? Regardless of legislation, contracts of their ‘word’, they don’t know what is going to happy with your data! For all they know, it could be sold to the highest bidder when the company goes into administration or liquidation. The worst-case scenario is that the company is sold, they get hold of their data and use it for malicious purposes.
• No control. Whether they like it or not theu have no real control over what is happening to your files. They don’t own the server that they’re renting, they just own the files that are stored within them. They will never have the full control that they did when using offline software.

There are, of course, advantages to cloud computing:

• Data always available. You will always have access to these files when you’re away from the office.
• Less money on IT department. Less money will be spent on hiring in-house IT guys because there will be fewer servers controlling the files and so on and so forth. This money is now going to IT guys on the other side of the world controlling your files.
• Realtime. It is what it is, users will be able to edit files ‘realtime’.

Though these are both good, they open up doorways to disadvantages:

• Data always available. This takes me back to ‘security threats’. Imagine that you owned a company who used cloud computing, something that allows your workforce to access files from your office and from Timbuktu. This user isn’t very web-savvy, has cookies set to ‘allow’ and doesn’t log off their computer. Their son, Timmy, steps up to the computer and goes completely mental, deleting, modifying and sending galore. All of this done in an instant because it’s hosted on these ‘super-fast’ servers. Your company will soon be dropped in it because you’re relying on your staffs brain-power. Though you should never under-estimate your staff, you should never leave this down to chance.
• Less money on the IT department. If you spent less money on in-house IT staff, this means you’re more likely to require help from external services. We’ve all been in the situation where people are called up, they plug something in and charge you £180 for it. With in-house staff, this wouldn’t happen.
• ‘Realtime’. A commonly discussed advantage to cloud computing is the ability to send, share and modify documents in ‘realtime’. Sorry, but since when has walking over to a colleague, sitting with them, discussing a project and modifying projects in real-life, not ‘realtime’? Another buzzword that people love to use at the moment. In my opinion this should only be applied to search, for example.

Conclusion

My advice to anybody considering using Cloud Computing is this: have a big think about whether you really need it and what it’s going to do for you. Don’t jump on the bandwagon just because a lot of other people are.

Cloud computing is something that we should all appreciate and use when it’s necessary, but not rely on it for everything.

Tags: cloud computing