There is a natural double meaning in the word “cloud” that its more rabid supporters would do well to remember.
There has been far too much marketing hype in the past 12 months, and for many IT managers the future of technology could more likely be described as cloudy than in the cloud.
Are we all in danger of being brainwashed (cloudwashed?) by the likes of Google? Will businesses really flock to transfer all their critical applications and data to an external provider, potentially putting the very ability to operate into the hands of a third party?
As you would expect, Microsoft does not think so, and the latest peek at its version of the cloud, glimpsed through the Office 2010 Web Applications preview, suggests that the software giant sees a more hybrid future where the cloud is a place for collaboration, rather than total migration.
Of course, there is a hardly hidden agenda with Microsoft, desperate as it will be to hang on to its lucrative cash cow of desktop licences. But in the short term, the combination of cloud flexibility with in-house control is more likely to appeal to a lot of IT managers yet to be convinced by the hype.
Many independent experts are also changing their tone. Where once they urged businesses to evaluate the benefits of a cloud computing strategy, now they are pushing the cloud as a concept that can be equally applied to in-house infrastructure as to external services.
Increasingly, a strategy that sees firms move their IT to a cloud-like environment, but within their own operation, is being seen as the way forward. These so-called private clouds offer greater flexibility, but also the opportunity to migrate to a third-party provider once the market has matured sufficiently.
There will still be plenty of people who would like to see the cloud as a Microsoft killer, but they may need a clearer vision before IT managers make such a move.
