Why bother with the cloud?

My main computer at home is a quad core, water cooled beast.  This thing is able to run the latest computer games while hosting 3 virtual servers with out breaking a sweat.  So why am I so excited about a low powered netbook that is limited to accessing the cloud?   It's simple, it allows me to take my beast with me in a nice neat little package.

By writing cloud server applications I can permit my little netbook to remotely access everything my main system has to offer.  Soon these little miracle applications will be made available to the public.  You can already see the beginning of this with the OnLive and GaiKai gaming services.  If you have stable internet connection with basic broadband you can play the most demanding games on the lowliest of hardware. Soon we will be able to play on our own systems remotely thanks to GameString.

Businesses are already using this technology.  Automotive companies are installing blade workstations with powerful graphic processing to enable engineers to work smoothly in CATIA, a Computer Aided Drafting suite tailored for the industry, from a low powered business laptop.

the truly exciting thing is not that we can work in the cloud, it's that we can make our own private clouds!

Plea to Google:  I hate my job, get me away from the Microsoft centered world and take me into you loving and progressive embrace!  I want my head in the clouds!  I want to work with Chrome OS!

The Bit Myth

Lets do some math...

Announced in 2006, we can push 14 terabits a second through a fiber optic cable.  That is the equivalent of 50 billion people downloading at 60 megabits a second all at the same time! [http://bit.ly/fIY5Wn]

Announced in March this year, we can push 69 terabits a second through a fiber optic cable.  That is the equivalent of 250 billion people downloading at 59 megabits a second all at the same time! [http://bit.ly/gQtoOA]

Still think those bandwidth caps are for our benefit or just price gouging?