Kudos to the Cloud Crowd for Re-Inventing the Wheel!

One thing 30 years in the IT industry has taught me is that the more things
change, the more they stay the same. Another is that the only memory we
seem to access is short-term. A third is that techno-marketeers rely on
that, so they can put labels like "revolutionary" and "innovative" on
platforms, products and services that are mere re-inventions of the wheel
... and often poor copies at that.

A good example is all the latest buzz about "Cloud Computing" in general and
"SaaS" (software as a service) in particular:

http://tinyurl.com/6let8x

Both terms are bogus. The only true cloud computing takes place in
aircraft. What they're actually referring to by "the cloud" is a
large-scale and often remotely and/or centrally managed hardware platform.
We have had those since the dawn of automated IT. IBM calls them
"mainframes":

http://tinyurl.com/5kdhcb

The only innovation offered by today's cloud crowd is actually more of a
speculation, i.e. that server farms can deliver the same solid performance
as Big Iron. And even that's not original. Anyone remember Datapoint's
ARCnet, or DEC's VAXclusters? Whatever happened to those guys, anyway...?

And as for SaaS, selling the sizzle while keeping the steak is a marketing
ploy most rightfully accredited to society's oldest profession. Its first
application in IT was (and for many still is) known as the "service bureau".
And I don't mean the contemporary service bureau (mis)conception labelled
"Service 2.0" by a Wikipedia contributor whose historical perspective is
apparently constrained to four years:

http://tinyurl.com/5fpb8e

Instead, I mean the computer service bureau industry that spawned ADAPSO
(the Association of Data Processing Service Organizations) in 1960, and
whose chronology comprises a notable part of the IEEE's "Annals of the
History of Computing":

http://tinyurl.com/5lvjdl

So ... for any of you slide rule-toting, pocket-protected keypunch-card
cowboys who may be just coming out of a fifty-year coma, let me give you a
quick IT update:

1. "Mainframe" is now "Cloud" (with concomitant ethereal substance).

2. "Terminal" is now "Web Browser" (with much cooler games, and infinitely
more distractions).

3. "Service Bureau" is now "Saas" (but app upgrades are just as painful,
and custom mods equally elusive).

4. Most IT buzzwords boil down to techno-hyped BS (just as they always
have).

Bruce Arnold
Web Design Miami Florida