The Two Ways Cloud Computing Can Help Linux
The E-Commerce Times posted an interview with Jim Zemlin yesterday. Not surprisingly, he was very optimistic about the future of Linux, but his argument about cloud computing was particularly interesting. As I’ve discussed before here on Linux Loop, the replacement of desktop applications with web applications, sometimes called cloud computing, will put Linux on a level playing field with Windows and other OSs, because users don’t have to learn new applications when they switch operating systems. In short, web applications don’t care what OS you use. Getting back to the interview, Jim Zemlin made an interesting point about the other side of web applications, the server:
“In 2008 we are going to see Linux taking off tremendously in cloud computing. The use of cloud computing will become increasingly important. Running Linux on a virtual machine on a cloud server will be the dominant platform in that arena.“
Linux is already a major player in the server market, and as Jim Zemlin points out, with the rise of cloud computing more and more people will be aware of Linux on the server, which will help to establish Linux on the desktop, too. So, in summary, the rise of cloud computing helps Linux both on the server and on the desktop.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
The trend is definitely towards server-side computing. We may even see flash boot laptop-style computers accessing all of its programs on a server. This would enable cheaper production on the client side because you wouldn’t need a crazy fast system to get stuff done - just a crazy fast internet connection.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
While I agree that Linux is going to continue to boom, when you say it’s going to “take off”, with Linux it’s always a somewhat vague statement to make.
So the $64K question is “how”.
Do we mean it’ll get deployed more and more as a virtualized service? I think that’s pretty likely, as is the case with EC2. However, I don’t think there’s anything special about cloud computing for that. Linux has continued to see a pretty amazing growth in the server space, whether it’s “in the clouds” or anchored on the HW.
i believe there will continue to be some pretty amazing progress with Linux on the desktop. Ubuntu’s pushed many distributions (a.la Fedora) to an increasingly higher level of polish. Is this evolution shocking to see? No I don’t think so, it’s again a progression of Linux’s superhero ability to evolve.
So when we cay Cloud Computing’s going to help Linux, can we make that statement in such a way as to really make people think about ways to innovate exponentially rather then incrementally?
I think there’s definitely a way Linux can, and is, contribute and I believe that’s in making the integration with the cloud “seemless”, as in seeming to not exist.
Take the gPC for an example, it allows users to leverage “the cloud” without even knowing it’s out there. They just see an increasingly evolving level of availability and interoperability within their applications, which appear as local content.
It seems as though the “data in the cloud” aspect is the way in which Linux will evolve the greatest. Not that it won’t advance the cloud in other ways.
However, the open standards and culture of communication within the opensource community is spreading, and once the end consumers realize the power of this model I believe there will be no turning back.
Are there other ways Linux will be awesome in the clouds?
December 25th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.