How many times a day do you hear or read the term “cloud computing”? (Did we just hear you shout, “Too many!”?) The term is almost as old as OPLIN, dating back to 1996, but it didn’t really become part of our daily lives until Google CEO Eric Schmidt used it at a 2006 industry conference. Now, after six years of almost constant use, many people still aren’t sure what the term is supposed to mean, which has some companies advocating a change.
- Nebulous ‘cloud computing’ term baffles most Americans (GeekWire/John Cook) “The national survey found that a majority of Americans — 54 percent — claim to never use cloud computing. However, 95 percent of that group actually did use a cloud-based service such as online banking, shopping, social networking or storing digital media. Meanwhile, a majority of 1,006 respondents thought cloud computing was connected to the weather, and that stormy weather could interfere with cloud computing.”
- Cloud computing buzzwords (CCSK Guide) “Gartner’s hype report demonstrates that it’s important to define terms well. ‘Confusion remains the norm,’ according to Gartner’s 2012 report on the cloud computing industry. ‘Many misconceptions exist around potential benefits, pitfalls, and, of course, cost savings.’”
- The software-defined data center: Dissecting the latest buzzword (Network Computing/Joe Onisick) “You can’t discuss any current technology without its marketeers describing it as a cloud-based, big-data solution that provides synergy and business value through blah, blah, blah. One term gaining tons of traction recently is software-defined data center. This one is being tossed around by execs at VMware, EMC and throughout the industry.”
- The end of “cloud computing?” (ReadWriteWeb/Brian Proffitt) “But even if neither of those terms make any headway, given the sour taste that many in the IT industry are getting from the predictable overuse of the term cloud, it’s not a far stretch to imagine the rise of some alternative descriptions. ‘Cloud computing’ won’t be the first term to journey to the Island of Misfit Buzzwords, joining ‘fuzzy logic,’ ‘information superhighway’ and ‘data warehousing.’”
Fib fact:
22 percent of Americans admit that they’re just pretending to understand what cloud computing is whenever the topic comes up.
