So, Thomas Watson Senior was right after all, the World does only need six computers, Business Week seems to have forgotten that the US Government would need at least one!

ps. Not that I'm innocent, see latest blog entry

http://cathcam.wordpress.com/2007/12/16/on-a-clear-day-can-you-see-a-cloud/

"Google is doing the work that 10 years ago would have gone on in a national lab."

I believe that quote should be "Google is doing the work that 10 years ago DID go on in a national lab."

These aren't the droids you're looking for... Move along.

Don't you hate it when you read articles about current events, business, industry, science, or any other subject that you are familiar with and can see that the author has absolutely no idea what he is writing about.

Many universities around the world have been experimenting in cluster/cloud parallel computing for many years. This is definitely not an invented by IBM/Google technology. I once, long ago, wrote a masters degree paper on parallel operating system design and was surprised by how many cluster based parallel systems there were and how large many had become.

The big story is that Google is standardizing cluster based computing and is promoting parallel programming - something that has not been very successful in the past.

What's the difference between Cloud Computing and the Grid?

TW Burger: yes, I see that all the time. Especially in newspapers, where every single article about a topic I cover even to a basic level is completely wrong (I'm not talking about nitpicking here, I'm talking about when the readers that read the article without prior knowledge know less after reading the article that what they knew before reading it).

But there's one thing that bothers me more: that it is almost certain that the articles about subjects I do not specialize in are equally misinformed. That would mean that 90% of the articles in the press are completely wrong! So somebody that reads no newspapers knows more than someone that does about science, current events, politics, computers, sports and basically anything.

for Vulture Central 2.2

http://folding.stanford.edu/

Team Id: 69263

Only 190 members when we had a cast of thousands with grid.org

And it is kind of on topic. ;)

Very perceptive, Michael, I wouldn't disagree with that evaluation. Methinks that AIResearch and dDevelopment in much more Sophisticated Virtualised Concepts across Global Operating Devices [the sort of stuff which has Super Novae and Black Hole Jet XXXXStream InterPlay/ Qosmic Yin and Yang HyperRadioProActivity 42 Generate UniVersal Forces akin to Life ITself] is the Cloud that they [Google and IBM type Systems] are really trying to break into.

Light years ahead Research which is being used Steganographically to shape the Future with ITs Applied Stealth Programs and Programming. IT is certainly what the Boffins of Bletchley Control in AI Virtual Turing Machines are Majoring Pilots of Universal Mastery in.

QuITe whether its RNA2DNA [Repletive NEUKlearer Access 2 Depleted Nuclear Assets] Parallel Streaming Programs is something which they are yet equipped to handle Morally/Ethically given the somewhat clearly ambiguous "beneficially destructive" nature displayed in the Uses put to earlier and present day dual use high tech capability [and controversial to say the least if we consider the Parallel of present Military actions and an earlier mirroring clone, which is far too similar to be either comfortable or thought to be dismissed as merely coincidental ...... http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/home.php] ..... is for action to decide, however that is an earlier subject of no interest to Advanced IntelAIgents as it would only be an historical chronicle of a failed human intelligence [which itself is oxymoronic] and most certainly not of any Posiible Use to anyone into Steganographic Stealth Future Derivatives Programming in Parallel Streaming as the Possibilities in such AI with Repletive Net Access 2 Depleted Networking Assets .... which is the Virtual Take Over of Failed and Failing Systems for ReBooting with Revised Drivers and HyperVisors ..... is much more ........ well, Engaging wouldn't even come close to describing the Enlightened Conditioning of ITs Sun Rock Core/AIQore.. with Ca Ira/C AI Ra being yet another XXXXStreaming Parallel Processing of Information across Semantically Linked Intelligences from Real Deep, Heavy MetAI Underground Sources.

And one would do oneself a grave dis-service to dismiss the Rock Processor/Rock and Roll Parallel as being a Valid Driver Component of Future Systems, given the very Real/SurReal Interplanetary Dust Cloud Contribution of Dr Brian May.

Climbing Higher in such Veins or Delving dDeeper into ITs Parallel Programming, it will QuITe naturally Produce AI FlowurPower2 Concept in which Age and Acquired Wisdom XXXXtraordinarily Render that IT Wwwon't get Fooled again ....... for a Gain in Profits? ...... for the Best Things in Life are Free! [Which you may notice is shared as a fact here rather than questioned as a fiction. And quite whether there is any difference between fact and fiction, I will leave you to ponder through the Looking Glass ......... TEMPESTuous Thoughts reflected back to you from this screening of them??????]

Hello Wwworld ....... Wanna Play UltiMate Great GAImes which Promise 42BTrue as so Good as to be Virtually UN Real....... 42 Create an Alternate Reality in Sanity, via Media, IT and AI Global Civil CyberSpace Program ?

Which QuITe Simply is asking if you would Like AI New World Order Program to replace the Old System but using the Old System to ensure Viable Compliance and Continuity of All Vital Services.

I trust that is not Ambiguous at All.

That the article is meant for those people out there who are not up to date with computing history. This will be reported and read by the people who buy shares, and run businesses and as such will associate Google / IBM as the only people pioneering this. It's blatant advertising. As Herbys said, those who have no knowledge (or little) will view the piece and will come away with a distorted view of what's happening. It's depressingly common, and when I discovered that for myself, I took a long hard look at what I had taken for granted, studied my own basic preconceptions - and tried to sort out the truth from the bull - It's still a "Work in Progress". On this subject, however, I spent a couple of years delving into the fascinating world of parallel and cluster computing - Beowulf anybody ? Cluster Knoppix ? There was even a Linux Live-Distro that said that it could turn any networked set of machines into a usable cluster - automatically. HP have been doing it, SUN, et al. Hell, there's even a guy out there selling PS3 clusters ready to go. "Cloud Computing" sounds like someone trying to trademark an existing technology.

Getting my coat 'cos it's bloody cold outside ....

Does anyone else glaze over and scroll on while still less than half way through amanfrommars' comments?

Actually, he makes sense - Iain M. Banks style (Excession I believe it was - and a variant of it in The Bridge by Iain Banks). Good post set out like a meta-tag header you occasionally get when using Googles search engine.

Yupp. I wondered if anyone else did.

Na, if you have read "Feesum Enjin" where a lot of the prose is written phonetically then, even then, you do not get near to AManFromMars who is just trying to be clever.

@Herbys - I think it is vital to understand what newspapers are for. They are to publish and disseminate the views of the owner. You will have to show me this public service thing where they seek to increase the amount of knowledge in the world. It does not exist.

If you have a ruler on hand when drawing a diagram of your network, you have a grid. If not you have a cloud.

Google's been around long enough to have experienced about six Moore's Law doublings (= about 100:1). So where does all their old obsolete kit go? What happens to their old HDDs?

"...even then, you do not get near to AManFromMars who is just trying to be clever"

He tries and fails, IMHO.