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[ih] Geek Terminology (was Re: Resource sharing)
On 12/23/2012 3:48 PM, John Day wrote:
> Even the nebulous use of "cloud" rather than what it is a "data
> center." It sounds so much more reassuring that my stuff is just out
> there in the cloud, rather stored with someone else in their data
> center. (Even that is a euphemism).
Of late I have been wondering: Has that term's definition morphed
without me noticing, or did I use it incorrectly back in the day?
When I was active in networkish stuff in the late 20th century I "cloud"
was a device (, metaphorical) for talking about entities that could
communicate without much caring how the details in the cloud were arranged.
[My computer, my building, my campus, my company] was network connected
to the cloud so it could communicate with other connected entities that
also speak {IP, IPX, AppleTalk].
The notion of "data center" never occurred to me.
That term by the way is an example of the vocabulary limitation. A long
time ago in my environment, a "computer center" was a building that
housed a few computers--typically between one and three 7074s and 3 or 4
times as many 1401s and 360/30s.
Then, when the technology improved and there was only one or two
computer (an 1110 and a 360/30 to support it) they became "data centers).
--
Requiescas in pace o email Two identifying characteristics
of System Administrators:
Ex turpi causa non oritur actio Infallibility, and the ability to
learn from their mistakes.
ICBM Data: http://g.co/maps/e5gmy (Adapted from Stephen Pinker)