eWeek looks at Computing on the Cloud

My paper copy of eWeek is generally fodder for the circular file. In fact, the magazine rarely makes it as far as my office. Instead it stays in our reception area on a coffee table along with other unread magazines. This week, though, I picked up a couple of editions to browse while taking lunch. In the process I discovered some interesting cloud computing technologies.

The first is old news for leading edge developers, but new to me. The June 30 edition ran an analysis on the Google App Engine. The Google App Engine competes with Amazon Web Services in scope and intent. Although Google currently only supports the Python language, betting an application on Google infrastructure seems pretty safe.

In a similar vein, GigaSpaces offers an application server that sits on Amazon's EC2 cloud computing solution. The GigaSpaces application server provides a middleware layer between Java or .Net applications and the Amazon Web Services backend.

A third product, Jungle Disk, has a different goal, but uses computing on the cloud none-the-less. Jungle Disk is a backup and storage solution that works with Amazon's S3 Web Service. I have not tried Jungle Disk, but eWeek offers a fairly thorough analysis that puts the product on my to-do list.

Of course the interesting common thread with all these applications is computing on the cloud. GigaSpaces and Jungle Disk take advantage of Amazon's early entry into the utility computing space. Google, however, does everything well, and should have little trouble catching up. Old timers like myself remember the days of time-sharing on mainframes. Cloud computing proves what's old is new again with one important difference; now utility computing is affordable.

Once You’re Lucky

I often pick books based on reviews from Wired Magazine. This was true when I picked up Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good. In Mark Horowitz's review, he claimed that "Sarah Lacy…hangs with [entrepreneurs] them, gains their trust, and gets the goods. No other recent chronicle delivers such intimate, behind-the-scene glimpses into Silicon Valley startup life." It's an entertaining read reminiscent of Accidental Empires.

My issue with the current crop of valley startups has little to do with Sarah Lacy's book, although her tales reinforce my opinion. The problem is very few of the companies actually provide a site that is useful. Even Facebook, the current reigning king of Web 2.0, doesn't help its members solve problems or get things done. Of course my days of finding a good off-campus kegger with lots of girls are long past. As Twitter, Slide, or Ning they seem even less useful.

What's interesting about these sites, though, and the stories Sarah wraps around them, is the underlying technology. Maybe an old-timer like myself doesn't see the benefit of social networking. I do see where collaboration and go anywhere sites can be very useful. I'm expecting a new wave of web startups that take Web 2.0 into truly commercially viable areas.