Last week, I thought we might see a bit of a lul in all the “Cloud” hype when Larry Ellison called a technology spade a spade, as it were. His comments hit to a lot of what many people have been thinking, but what few journalists or techn ology leaders have been forthright enough to say.
But then I check my Google alerts, and lo and behold, I see even more noise on the Cloud front…and it may be getting worse. In addition to the continued talk around cloud computing, there is a new amorphous buzzword brewing along the horizon…Fog Computing!
Here is an excerpt and explanation from a recent eWeek article:
Meanwhile, Anderson discussed a project he is working on that he calls “fog computing,” which attempts to tap the unused power of private PCs and devices owned by people around the world. The goal is to use the underused computing power as a resource pool to tap for scientific research, Anderson said. Already “about 1 million computers are volunteering” in the effort, he said.
Now, this is actually pretty cool – in a world of less than limitless energy resources, I like the idea of using the Net as a sort of “power farm” to utilize unused processing power in a green manner. But, please, does the name of this have to continue the tortured cloud metaphor???
