Executive’s Guide to Cloud Computing

There have been very few fundamental changes in computing. On the surface, that may sound like the statement of a madman, or perhaps at least someone from an alternate universe. Nonetheless, it is true. Sure there have been, are, and will likely continue to be a nearly incomprehensible fire hose of particular changes, some rather flashy in and of themselves. Simple things like pocket-sized flash drives that store more than the corporate mainframes of 30 years ago, or perhaps ubiquitous mobile devices for everything from the mundanely practical””e-mail, calendars, and contacts””to the cheerfully sublime. Much more complex developments such as the open source movement; the advent of relational databases; and the rise (and fall) of whole operating systems and their surrounding ecosystems, even those whose perpetual dominance once seemed assured (how many desktop machines are running CP/M these days?). These have come and gone, perhaps lingering in some niche, forgotten by all but a few fanatical devotees.