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In his new book "The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google," computer industry writer and former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review Nicholas G. Carr discusses the changes he sees in the future of computing. One of the more dramatic changes is a shift to cloud computing -- where applications and files are stored on a large, centralized supercomputer or network. The end user accesses his or her files using computers that are more streamlined but less sophisticated than today's typical machines. On October 17, 2007, Carr took the idea a step further in a posting on his Rough Type blog. He called out two hot technology companies, Google and Apple, and said they were on the verge of a partnership in which Apple would make an inexpensive piece of hardware users could carry around. This would leverage the computing power of the vast data centers Google has been building to hold the applications and the data for millions of users.
Oracle's Larry Ellison launched the New Internet Computer (NIC) company in 2000 to lead the industry forward to that goal. The concept is very simple: On your desk, you would have a very low-cost computer with just a processor, a keyboard and a monitor. There would be no hard drive or CD/DVD drive. It would be hooked up to the Internet and would link to a central supercomputer, which would host all of your programs and files. The idea, however, was ahead of its time. Could a Google/Apple team make cloud computing a widespread phenomenon? And if they move forward, what's in it for Google and Apple? The biggest question of all: If they build the cloud computer, will anyone use it? Read on to learn more about the future of computing. A googol is the name for a one followed by 100 zeros. As the company grew, it began offering more services than just Web searches.
Through in-house innovations and acquisitions of other companies, Google created what is now Google Docs, a Web-based suite of applications that includes word processing, a spreadsheet and a presentation program. With Gmail, that puts Google in direct competition with Microsoft for the corporate desktop. And unlike Office, Google Docs is completely free. These hosted services are the kinds of applications that would be at the core of a cloud computer, just one reason it would be feasible for Google to be the perfect back-end for a hardware manufacturer to partner with. Google's machine, really a network of machines, offers amazing computing power. It also offers redundancy. Using a cloud computer stored on Google's massive infrastructure would free you from having to take your files with you -- no thumb drives, laptop hard drives, CDs, DVDs or other removable media. You could work on your projects from home, from work and on your mobile computer while on the go. Using applications hosted on the server, your local machine would have all the software it needs to work without having to store it locally.
You wouldn't have to update your software to the next version -- and everyone would use the same software on the cloud. There should be no compatibility issues. But what happens to those frequent flyers who need to work as they travel? A cloud computer would require an Internet connection, and today's airliners don't offer that ability, though some carriers have plans to offer in-flight access. You'd be stuck reading or watching the in-flight movie. You'd also have to be comfortable with letting Google, or whomever else, keep your documents online. Many corporations don't allow their documents past their firewalls. Would these companies change their minds if the majority of business was done on a cloud-computing model? One of the biggest problems involved with creating a cloud computer is the amount of electricity required to make it work. Google needs large amounts of electricity to power the cooling equipment necessary to keep thousands of servers running.
If Google can't handle the processing power needed to offer the world a computing cloud, it certainly is well on its way to building it. But why would Google partner with Apple for the end-user hardware? Read on for Carr's best guesses and what his critics say. So why do Carr and others think Google is so interested in creating a cloud-computing network for the masses? It's not such a stretch. Google is now one of the largest computing companies in the world, and it's certainly interested in new technologies and new business opportunities. There aren't many organizations that do. Google and Apple have had a partnership dating back years. If Microsoft succeeds in its bid to acquire Yahoo announced Feb. 1, 2008, the combined companies may well be able to leverage a sophisticated cloud-computing environment. Inexpensive: The machine you'd buy would be under $200 and there would be no charge for applications or data transfer.
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