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May 7, 2008 8:31 PM PDT

Defining cloud computing

by Dan Farber

Ask a dozen people what "cloud computing" means and you'll get a dozen different answers, all pointing to the network. Rob Boothby of Joyent interviewed more than a dozen technology wonks, including Steve Gillmor, Matt Mullenweg, Tim O'Reilly, Kevin Marks, Rafe Needleman, Stowe Boyd, Brian Solis and myself, at the Web 2.0 Expo, to answer the question, "What is Cloud Computing ?"

Check out the responses in this video:

Dan Farber is editor in chief of CBS Interactive News, which includes CBSNews.com and CNET News. He has more than 25 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. E-mail Dan.
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by AaronRowe May 7, 2008 10:43 PM PDT
That video is brilliant. Asking lots of experts the same broad question and getting a bunch of very different answers is such a great way to create thought provoking content. My favorite answer came from O'Riley.
Reply to this comment
by AaronRowe May 7, 2008 10:43 PM PDT
That video is brilliant. Asking lots of experts the same broad question and getting a bunch of very different answers is such a great way to create thought provoking content. My favorite answer came from O'Riley.
Reply to this comment
by Frank Mlinar May 8, 2008 2:28 AM PDT
A published transcript would be helpful for those of us that are hard of hearing.
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by Norseman May 8, 2008 6:57 AM PDT
So. Cloud = internet. OK. I get it.
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by Norseman May 8, 2008 7:42 AM PDT
Excuse the multiple posts. The "new, improved" system tripped me up!
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by kwatson49 May 8, 2008 9:57 AM PDT
Love this video. Cloud Computing to me is running my business with my laptop, on the beach in Mexico, beer in hand and not stressing about keeping the lights on!
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by Tony McCune May 11, 2008 5:06 AM PDT
I recently took a stab at defining what cloud computing is not:
http://tmccune.blogspot.com/2008/04/stop-meshing-with-cloud-computing.html
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by Toughs June 24, 2009 12:33 PM PDT
I am very happy to see so many people that can talk about cloud computing without actually telling us what it is. Cloud computer is a group of computers that store all data redundantly and can share resources among the machines. If one of these servers fail, it doesn't matter because all of the data is redundantly stored around the rest of the "cloud" or group of servers there is virtually zero downtime.
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About Outside the Lines

Dan Farber is the editor in chief of CNET News. He has covered technology for more than two decades, and he previously served as editor in chief of ZDNet, PC Week and MacWeek. Outside the Lines explores the intersection of business and technology.

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