This training seminar says it all about where MS is headed

[SysAdmin]

http://content.microsoftstore.com/en-us/event/detail/oakbrookcenter?eid=e5c108d7-9bc6-e311-bc20-00155d7d450b

[itix]

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[persia]

SaaS is probably a good model.  Offering training is a part of SaaS.

[commodorejohn]

SaaS is probably a good model.  Offering training is a part of SaaS.

Why, it's such a good model that we almost totally abandoned it outside the mainframe market for the nearly four decades that personal computers have been a thing!

[persia]

Of course "the Cloud" isn't new, but it's so ubiquitous now.   Microsoft has taken a word processor as far as it can reasonably go, there's really no reason to keep buying updates to a programme that does everything you need, so there is a logic in giving away the programme and charging for the "Cloud" storage of the documents.  I can start editing a document at home on my desktop, work on it on the train on the way to work on my tablet, review it on my phone and finish it on a laptop at work.  I no longer care where I am or carry a USB stick.  It's there, all the time.  

Say you are sitting in Macca's and you suddenly have the answer you need, pull out your phone and edit it right there.  It's a loss of control, indeed the loss of the very control that drove the PC revolution.  But it's worth the trade off.  I just can't see us as a society going back now.  My entire 100 gigs of personal photos is there on every device I own or use.  My 200 gigs of music, there.  My letters, project documentation, etc, there.

[commodorejohn]

Yeah, I can see how paying a subscription fee for a program that you don't actually need new versions of makes perfect sense.

[persia]

You are paying for the storage space on their servers, the programme isn't the product, it's a hook to entice consumers to use your server storage.  Yeah, the '80's me is uncomfortable with the loss of control, I can empathise with you.  Is it absolutely necessary for me to have the pictures from my '04 holiday on the beaches in Vietnam available to me 24/7?  No.  Is it necessary for me to have Blanchemange's "Living on the Ceiling" available to me right now?  No.  But if I can have it for a few bucks why not?

[commodorejohn]

You're paying for storage space on their servers when you can easily have reasonable amounts of portable storage much cheaper by just buying a dang thumbdrive (or huge amounts of non-portable storage vastly cheaper with a hard disk.) It's just stupid, no matter how much you try to rationalize it.

[stefcep2]

You're paying for storage space on their servers when you can easily have reasonable amounts of portable storage much cheaper by just buying a dang thumbdrive (or huge amounts of non-portable storage vastly cheaper with a hard disk.) It's just stupid, no matter how much you try to rationalize it.

But you don;t have to carry that thumbdrive everywhere and what if you lose it (I lost a 32GB one)

The only issue is what happens if they decide they're closing the data centre down like Ubuntu did, or worse still, you data gets hacked/accessed by people you don't want to access.

[commodorejohn]

But you don;t have to carry that thumbdrive everywhere and what if you lose it (I lost a 32GB one)

The only issue is what happens if they decide they're closing the data centre down like Ubuntu did, or worse still, you data gets hacked/accessed by people you don't want to access.

Well, exactly. You're paying subscription money to put your data in the hands of people you don't even know, in a place where anybody in the world could theoretically get to it, to save yourself the trouble of keeping track of a flash drive (keychain, people, keychain!)

[Iggy]

I'd have to side with John on this.
I maintain my own storage and only pay for media.
That way I don't have to worry if I can't access the internet.

If the cloud works for you, I'm not going to argue against it.
I'm slow to adopt anything, waiting until I really need a good or service.

Besides, subscribing to an internet service sounds so AOL.

[fishy_fiz]

You dont need to carry it with you anyway. I have access to my files via any device with a net connection without the need for a "cloud". Doesnt cost me anything either, and anyone can do the same.

[SysAdmin]

B Gates is very confidant in the direction MS is heading.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/03/us-microsoft-gates-idUSBREA410YS20140503

[commodorejohn]

And we all know Bill is absolutely uncompromising in his devotion to the best interests of Microsoft's users, and unerring in his judgement as to what that might be.

[prowler]

It's not just the domestic market which companies are aiming at but also the enterprise/corporate market.

Microsoft is pushing the Azure product hard (running all your servers in the Microsoft cloud). Google Apps is also classified as SaaS and sales people in general are touting 'The cloud' as the magical silver bullet which will fix all your server woahs. Unfortunately, a lot of management, especially management which is not very technical swallow it all hook, line and sinker.

While 'The cloud' does have it's place, it is not the magical solution being pushed. it should be used to enhance your environment and not replace it. If your solution does not work on your own servers, it will not mystically start working when moved to the cloud.

The other thing which comes into play which has mentioned here is where your data is being stored. The problem for non-American companies is that even if the data is not stored on American property, if the company is American, the data still falls under the patriot act ie. the government can access it anyway.

As for the domestic side, there are a number of reasons Microsoft and others want you to use SaaS; They control it, you rent it, it's cheaper for them etc.

It's all about horse for courses and working out what you really need and with the corporate world, if you have th einhouse skills to manage it yourself or not. the other problem is, a large number of people don't really grasp the concept of what the cloud is. Just because it is being hosted externally does not make it a cloud solution.

I have seen things which make sense to put into the cloud but I have seen a lot of things which don't and have been.