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Shally's Rant about so-called "Cloud Computing" follow this blog post

posted by on Dec. 4, 2008
I've been getting lots of calls from vendors who want me to review their product, help them promote it, resell it, link to it from my website, blog about it, etc. In other words, they are trying to convince me that their particular brand of snake oil is the best and will cure all my client's recruitment ills.

But here's the thing, more and more of them are talking about "cloud computing" as if they know what it is. My problem is that most of them are just throwing around the term "cloud computing" cluelessly, like folks used to talk about Web 2.0 (and still do) without understanding the first thing about it. And now those folks are talking about Web 3.0 and they still don't even know the basics of Web 1.0!
 
Hey, lets face it, "cloud computing" is nothing special, in fact its been around for nearly 30 years, and its just another buzz word. Wasn't it just SasS that we were talking about? Cloud Computing is no more than today's SaaS, and guess what, SaaS is yesterdays ASP (application service provider).
 
And before that, when I was in college in the 80's it was "thin client." We never outgrew it, we just called it a bunch of different things because the screens are no longer green on brown, and the "services" are taking place on "the internet" instead of on the mainframes. Think client is when the "dumb terminal" (i.e. your modern browser) doesn't run software of your disk but off the mainframe or server (i.e. "the Internet" now a days). See what I mean? So this whole "cloud computing" just means "stuff that runs on the internet not off a disk" which my old VT100 terminal did in 1989...
 
So, vendors who think you are "champipons of the cloud"... welcome to 1989. Its nice here, I think you will like it. Stick around, things may get a bit interesting when we actually start USING this cloud you keep talking about... oh, wait, that would mean all your systems would need to talk to each other, right? Oops. I guess we're not going to be leaving 1989 quite yet, as we're still yet to figure out this whole "integration" and "portability" headache. Sorry. Call me back when your product does more than hyperlink to another product, how Web 1.0!
 
Cheers,
Shally 
 
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7 comments

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  • 1 point 11 months ago

    Shally, The third sentence in that last paragraph made me laugh out loud. Nice post. Take Care.

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    Never heard of that. Just kidding.. Outstanding post. Kind of sounds like a bar room chat after being let go from your job. Awesome post, I could not agree more! As always, cheers Shally.

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    Never heard of that. Just kidding.. Outstanding post. Kind of sounds like a bar room chat after being let go form your job. Awesome post, I could not agree more! As always, cheers Shally.

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    Shally, completely agreed - actually, I greatly, greatly respect this coming from you because I can only imagine every company wanting to sell you and "cut you in on a deal" to push their products. The best thing a thought leader and educator like yourself can do to really establish/maintain credibility is have a discerning eye to each and every 'innovation' (used loosely).

    Even running a small firm, I have tech vendors asking for us to rep/resell their solutions, at which point I ask if I can demo and run with it to see what it's all about. When I ask this, I hear, "What do you mean? We just want you to sell it." It's as if vendors think they can hold a carrot in front of you and immediately assume you'll sell out to the company with the best reseller commission rate! I've had times when I go back and say, "Hey, I used this and frankly, it's meeting the value prop in your marketing material" . . . to which one particular vendor answered, "Ok, how about we bump you up to 60% then?"

    I used to personal train clients in the gym (p/t evenings while working for my first job out of the military), and it seemed everyone wanted a pill to lose bodyfat or "get ripped." When I told them that it would take a lifestyle revamp, such as a better diet, drinking more water, training more intelligently, etc., I admit that I'd lose clients. They wanted a magic pill or "grapefruit diet" . . . not understanding that the 10 lbs they'd lose would be 8 muscle and 2 fat lbs before putting it right back on in adipose tissue shortly after concluding the diet (due to the metabolic slowdown induced by sustained fasting)!

    Likewise, I see the same phenomena with Directors of Recruiting that want to take a magic technology pill to solve their recruiting problems . . . but is that really solving the problem? Likewise, is a process improvement initiative the solution when it's not the process per se' that is broken?

    The last time we did a major sourcing project was for a large defense contractor, they wanted more 'great candidates' that were qualified and interested. In other words, they wanted coffee beans, apples, bananas, etc. picked from the best places in the world and then washed/prepared/brought to their table. But their recruiters were like McDonald's "Fry Guys" . . . so they had problems making a gourmet dish (i.e. actually recruiting someone).

    Their answer? Yep, they wanted more technology and better ovens . . . but it's not the kitchen that was the problem; it was the chefs, or moreover, "Fry-Guys".

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    It is cool that you have lived long enough to recognize the roots of technology. Like you, I am anxiously awaiting that integration thing.

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    Rows and floes of angel hair And ice cream castles in the air And feather acronyms evrywhere Ive looked at clouds that way

    But now they only block the sun They rain and snow on evryone So many things I would have done But clouds got in my way Ive looked at clouds from both sides now From up and down, and still somehow Its cloud illusions I recall I really dont know clouds at all

    Moons and junes and ferris wheels The dizzy dancing way you feel As evry fairy tale comes real Ive looked at love that way

    But now its just another show You leave em laughing when you go And if you care, dont let them know Dont give yourself away

    Ive looked at love from both sides now From give and take, and still somehow Its loves illusions I recall I really dont know love at all

    Tears and fears and feeling proud To say I love you right out loud Dreams and schemes and circus crowds Ive looked at life that way

    But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say Ive changed Well somethings lost, but somethings gained In living evry day

    Ive looked at the web from both sides now From win and lose and still somehow Its lifes illusions I recall I really dont know recruiting at all Ive looked at life from both sides now From up and down, and still somehow Its lifes illusions I recall I really dont know recruiting at all

  • 1 point 11 months ago

    Preach on, Brother Steckerl.