7 replies to this topic

[zanzibarjones]

I have been thinking about Cloud computing for a while now, and I don't see the point of it. I just don't understand why someone would rent a server to work on for a few hours a day? What is the point? And it's virtual anyway, not like there are real pieces of hardware you are leasing, so to speak.

But would you ever consider using a Real Hosted Desktop running XP Pro, Vista or 7?
I mean a real physical machine, that you rent/lease/use for say $10 a month?
The company would have the machines at their offices, say 50 of them. You could log in securely however you choose to do so, Logmein, RDP, Hamachi+uVNC, whatever. I can see advantages to some of this. Things like for streaming media, running automated tasks, etc.

I guess my main thought would be, that you could log in, start an automated task, it would do it for you for however long you tell it to run
Or say you download somethign like Orb, a streamin app, and put your files on there, and stream it using the hosted companies bandwidth. Or if you have limited bandwidth at home and you don't want to go over your alotted usage limits, you could use the hosted desktop to do it for you.

Just some ideas and thoughts. What do you think?

[The Simpleton]

I wouldn't use such a service for all of my work, but for some part of my work which isn't very important, sure, I would consider using cloud computing. But I don't see the point in paying for the service, because there are many sites providing cloud computing services for free, with a reasonable amount of space. Microsoft offers 25GB for free if I'm not wrong? For people who don't like storing lots of private data on an unknown server, this is more than enough.

[joycerimes]

For me, using cloud services is efficient for any company. It is basically the storing of data in clouds or simply internet.

[k_nitin_r]

Hosted desktops are pretty useful if you want to legally use software but cannot afford to buy a license for it. I had to use a hosted destop on a Citrix solution from university for using IBM's SPSS software for statistical analysis. It was a whole lot cheaper than having to purchase a license to use the software and the hosted desktop was accessible from right within the browser. It was pretty easy to use and it was just like using remote desktop. I did have to install a plugin to access the hosted destop, so I am guessing that it was a kind of a remote desktop or a VNC solution.

Apart from using hosted desktops to use licensed software, one can also use hosted desktops for running automated data search software that retrieves web pages, searches for key words, and stores reports. You can get the software started and connect back to the hosted desktop later to check on the progress of the search.

I still prefer using a real desktop, considering that computers do not cost as much as they used to about two decades ago.

[eInfiniti]

I would rent a real physical computer. I think a lot of people will the needs to rent computers from time to time.

One may want to take a rented laptop on a trip and can use it on a flight or in a train, right? Although cloud service can do many different things for you, you have to have a machine to go online. You sometimes may only need a computer for a short period of time just like you sometimes need to rent a car locally or out of town.

Rental cars are relatively easy to manage by rental car companies because each rental doesn't normally alter the car much. It may not be so easy to deal with a computer that has been rented and returned. I mean who knows what has been done to it. Besides, computers are much cheaper than cars. Rental computer companies will probably find it very difficult to make money.

[soniat]

We use a cloud based solution and it is amazing.

Caloboration is easy. Back up is done and i dont have to worry about security its all done by an external company and the price is fantastic.

You dont need expensive pcs to run it.

[k_nitin_r]

The Cloud is a buzz work for something that has been around in the past as application hosting providers. This is different from software as a service providers because the providers are in control of your data and you can only get your information out of their systems if they design their systems for exporting of data or if they can provide you with support, usually for a fee. A hosted desktop is pretty much the same as a desktop in the cloud, but you still do need a physical desktop to be able to use the virtual hosted desktop. That's perhaps the one thing that keeps people from wanting to get a hosted desktop - they have to get one to use the other, but when they already have one then why would they need the other? I do use hosted desktops but only for computing resources to be available for long running applications or for software that is too expensive to license and run on my computer. Think of it as a library for software where I can perform my work and export the output, the data, the image, or the video that is produced as a result of my work on the hosted desktop and never have to pay for software that I intend to use about once a year for a couple of hours. If I am using an application that requires stable Internet connectivity and I am connected to the Internet through a mobile broadband Internet connection, I would use a hosted desktop solution.

For people who do not have their own computers, they can get a hosted desktop that they can connect to from any Internet Cafe or from a borrowed computer and have all of their data stored on the hosted desktop for easy access. It beats having to carry around a flash drive and forgetting to take it with you when you leave. It's the same deal as carrying a compact disc or DVD disc with you except that the flash drive is much less fragile and more compact so it is easier to carry with you and stow away in your bag or in your car.

In regard to the comparison between using a hosted desktop and renting a car, you have a lot to do to clean up a car and make sure everything works as it should and it looks spotlessly clean before the next customer walks in to pick up the car. However, for a hosted desktop, all you need to do is restore an older snapshot of a desktop if the user complains of a problem with a system, or perhaps even switch to an older backup. It takes much less time than it sounds if all is set up the way it should be. A physical desktop may need to have its hard disk drive swapped out if it has been rented and while the computer is out on rent, the previous hard disk drive can be restored to the state that it should be in for the next customer to rent out the computer system. I believe running a series of tests on a computer is easier than running a series of tests of a car because a majority of the computer test can be automated - perhaps all you need to do is make sure that the mouse, keyboard, and screen work and the rest can be automated. Cleaning of a car takes much longer than physically cleaning all of the fingerprints off a computer. In either case, offline or online, a desktop rental is much easier to manage than renting out pretty much everything else if you have a consultant to do the initial setup for you.

[rpgsearcherz]

I think cloud computing systems have uses in some cases, but in many others it doesn't. As a direct example, take gaming. For us to game on a "hosted OS" we'd have to keep streaming it, which really isn't feasible for people with slower internet connections (and can't always be resolved without moving to a new house).

I also don't like the idea of using them for important private files, being that they can be hacked and you can leak confidential information. While I can see the positive benefit of using them as a backup, you can also back up things on your own.

The time I could see this being useful is, as someone else stated, in situations where you need to collaborate with others. Design work, programming, etc. would all go great with this. But for anything personal-based, I am 100% against it.