Google will win the War of the Clouds...eventually

The paper I submitted tonight for my Cloud Computing class follows; hope it's not too long for you:

There is thunder in the clouds today.  Certainly many companies are forging ahead and trying to make an impact in cloud computing, but of the three major companies (Google, Microsoft and Amazon) at the center of the cloud war, Google and Microsoft are battling head to head in the area of software development.  The big philosophical difference between these two companies is that Google embraces an innovative open-source architecture while Microsoft continues to develop proprietary software.  Simon Wardley reports in his blog that “cloud is fundamentally about enabling and increasing rates of user innovation.”  Using the collective knowledge of the world to improve and expand its products, Google has an intellectual advantage over Microsoft in the long run.

With Google’s recent announcement of Chrome OS, built on the Linux kernel and based on the new Chrome browser, the company is moving beyond the physical computer-based world of today to an entirely new environment where everything will be handled from the cloud.  Purportedly, a netbook with Chrome OS installed will reach the internet almost immediately.  Among the other innovations in Chrome OS is Google Cloud Print.  Google’s vision is that using the APIs for its print service, developers will build applications capable of printing to ANY “cloud-aware” printer from ANY device connected to the internet without the use of drivers and other printer-specific software.  The folks at Google hope that printer manufacturers will work with them to create printers that are “cloud-aware” and compatible with Google Cloud Print. In the meantime, Google is working on a method to allow communication with legacy printers through proxy.

While Google thinks out of the box and works to build an entire ecosystem in the cloud, Microsoft continues to “improve” its Windows environment.  Microsoft Azure is Windows in the cloud.  It has been adapted to work with cloud resources while still maintaining its earthly applications.  David Chappell in his article “Introducing Window’s Azure” explains that the “Windows Azure platform provides a bridge for Windows developers moving into this new world” and describes cloud platforms as “slightly exotic options” for most organizations.

Arguably, the familiarity of the Microsoft’s Windows product means that the millions of current Windows users and developers will continue to support the program, for now. Migrating to the cloud on the Windows Azure platform will be easier for existing Windows Enterprise users since most people shy away from change.  Users and developers in the current generation have grown up with the internet and all of the applications that have sprung up around it.  They enjoy and embrace the democracy of open source software.  They will choose to use and develop under the Google umbrella.

Data is one of the world’s most important resources and optimized cloud architecture makes data available in a way we can hardly imagine. While most corporate data is stored in relational database form today and will likely migrate to the Windows-based cloud in the same format, Google’s BigTable(and Microsoft’s DataStore) is designed for the cloud environment.  Entity objects with attributes are scalable and optimally web-accessible while relational data is meant to be accessed with structured queries. 

Microsoft Windows was designed for use on PC-based computers and servers.  Modifying the program and calling it Windows Azure to run in the Cloud will likely provide service along the same lines that Windows provides today.  Google’s Cloud system on the other hand is data-centered and Google’s development has focused on handling all aspects of computing through the internet.  Interface to Google’s Cloud is expected to be through very thin clients--hand held devices and netbooks for access, sensors for input and cloud-ready printers and other devices for output. 

In the future, users will be looking to access information quickly, with devices we can’t imagine today and from anywhere. Applications developed with the cloud architecture in mind will serve the needs of the earthly world as it advances into the “internet of things” where people have their hand on their iphone and their information in the cloud.  Enterprise systems may cling to Windows for now, but eventually they will realize that data is their most important corporate resource and they need it now!