Article review - Dec 2009 - CIO.com

fivefiveReview of :

  • The Cloud explained (again) this time with 5 characteristics.
  • Cloud appliances from IBM and others - usually blade-based systems with virtualization, web services, and chargeback already installed for "cloudlike" manageability of the datacenter and the applications that run in it.
  • Google's Chrome OS - An OS or just a good browser? But if it works as advertised, who cares.
  • Server-based desktops apps like MS Office Web Apps, Google Docs, and Zoho - suitable alternatives in many cases especially when collaborating, but still or maybe never, going to pose a major threat to locally installed office applications. HTML 5 may be the answer. Are thin clients going to make a comeback?
  • Big Data - crunch your data in a non-structured format using MapReduce algorithms with Hadoop or Amazon's Elastic MR.
  • Platforms like Force.com and Azure - probably where the real impact can be made with a competitive advantage.