by Hovhannes Avoyan
| Oct 25, 2009
It’s pretty interesting to know what college kids think these days about cloud computing and the major players pushing development of apps. According to one campus columnist’s rather edgy point of view, Microsoft’s forthcoming Office Web Apps 2010 is a desperate attempt to remain relevant in the new world of cloud computing – so far dazzled by the likes of Google Docs.
“Microsoft is all too aware of this, as they struggle to keep people interested in their operating systems,” the PITT News piece says. “Google, a company that seems to never stop to catch its breath technologically, is a rather surprising threat to Microsoft — the undisputed chief among the current thick-client software companies.”
I chuckled when I read that because it reminds me of how blunt the young can be.
Later, describing a ComputerWorld comparison of the two cloud product suites, the college paper says: “In true Microsoft style, collaboration and sharing with Office 2010 is only possible through Microsoft SharePoint Server. Google, conversely, allows instant collaboration by sharing information with other Google Docs users across the Internet.”
You don’t have to read much between the lines to see where this writer holds his cards.
Yet, in the same piece, the writer takes a jab at Google, saying: “Google will ultimately need to gain the trust of its users, both by springing back from recent service outages and continuing the comfort advantage that they hold over older companies like Microsoft.” True enough; there’s no denying the outages!
But what I really loved about this article was the closing line – which I thought was a very sarcastic swipe at the whole concept of cloud computing and reflects the mistrust that’s still out there (especially among the politically aware young people). Ready, here goes:
“After all, cloud computing is all about giving some shadowy corporation all of your data, rather than keeping it well-stored on a local hard drive.”
Cloud enthusiasts…we have work to do!
