tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67472640342030746482024-02-20T13:59:30.469-08:00Cloud WizardAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-68356328813018199762010-04-12T13:00:00.000-07:002010-04-12T13:03:53.551-07:00Chrome OS and the CloudChrome OS was originally pitched as a netbook operating system. Now, Google is rumored to be releasing a Android iPad competitor. That makes more sense. Android has Apps. Chrome is a browser. Chrome OS makes more sense as a thin client operating system for shared pcs or terminals with permanent connectivity.<br /><br />I could have a Chrome OS device in my kitchen to read recipes. For any device that might be disconnected from the cloud, I want Android.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-59695732636598380302010-04-12T00:34:00.000-07:002010-04-12T00:48:41.581-07:00Palm looking for sucker/ It is all about the appsPalm is <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-12/palm-said-to-tap-goldman-quattrone-to-find-buyers-update1-.html">looking</a> for a buyer. I love Palm and have owned at least half a dozen. The Treo is still better than anything that Microsoft ever made. The problem is that the mobile market is all about Apps now. It does not matter that Palm is better than Android. <br /><br />There are currently only 2 platforms with the critical mass of Apps - Iphone and Android. Android has two things going for it. It is free so it has the backing of HTC, Samsung, Sony, Motorola, etc. Some have made the mistake of saying it is Apple vs Google. It is Apple vs everyone who is afraid of being left out of the mobile market. The biggest thing that Android has going for it is a number 2 position where number one has Steve Jobs. He just added Adobe to the Android camp. <br /><br />The long approval process for the Iphone store, SDK license issues, iAds, etc means that Apple is pushing more developers and corporations toward Android. <br /><br />Back to Palm. Palm's problem is that developers will not write for it until there are enough devices sold. Not enough people will buy the device if there are not apps for it. This is the same problem for all the other Smartphone wannabes. <br /><br />It makes no sense for HTC or Lenovo to buy Palm when it has so little value. The only companies that it makes sense for are Blackberry or Nokia. Companies that are locked into owning mobile platforms and could use some coolness.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-4646286997228958502009-09-30T23:53:00.000-07:002009-10-01T00:05:04.525-07:00The Folly of the Amazon Cloud EconomyI have heard of dozens of startups that are offering services that Amazon does not. The big problem with these businesses is that are not taking into account what Amazon is. <br /><br />Amazon is a Fortune 200 company. They have all the technology that you need to run a huge enterprise. They just have not released it or figured out how to bill for it.<br /><br /><br />They are just waiting for some small startup to prove that there is a market for the product. They go back to the labs and pull the code out.<br /><br />If you think that there is no way that Amazon will ever go after your market, it must be too small to be Venture funded.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-12846635901298859642009-08-13T22:10:00.000-07:002010-10-14T13:02:14.429-07:00Feeling DepressedI believe that Platform as a Service (PAAS) will be the end result of the Cloud Revolution. One or more of the PAASs will be the new cloud operating system. You can build systems with Amazon or another Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) but that is like assembling your computer from chips and writing your own operating system.<br /><br />The reason I am so depressed is that I think that the most likely winner will be Hadoop. Hadoop is written mainly in Java. Java is the result of design by committee like COBOL and ADA. The answer to any API problem is to add more API's.<br /><br />The only hope for any elegance in programming is if a better scripting language is overlaid on it like Jruby or Jython. I also think that Google AppEngine will remain a viable competitor but I don't think that Google will push it enough for it to win.<br /><br />The new Windows will not be Linux. It will be Hadoop over Linux over the EC2 API. Hadoop will probably be more reliable than Windows. Thinking about Java surviving is just sad.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-82945346959488467222009-04-20T23:01:00.000-07:002009-04-21T00:09:06.224-07:00Oracle says that it buys Sun for Solaris and HWI don't buy it for a second. IBM's exclusive to look at Sun's books expired only two weeks ago. Oracle can not have done a proper due diligence. Oracle <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc20090420_494938.htm">says</a> that it is buying Sun for the HW business and Solaris. They barely mention MySQL. <br /><br />The vast majority of Oracle's software <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/126698-oracle-delivers-solid-q3-declares-first-dividend">revenues</a> come from it's database. $3B out of $4.4. Of the remaining $1B in revenues, $758M come from consulting services. This probably has to do with it's database. <br /><br />Oracle paid <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/20/oracle-sun-enterprise-technology-enterprise-tech-oracle.html">$5.6B</a> for Sun. It made $11.64B last year in database revenue. It is projected to make <a href="http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2009/3/18/saupload_orcl3qearns2.jpg">$13.35B</a> this year. If it could increase it's database revenue by 50%, it could pay for Sun in 1 yr. <br /><br />MySQL is the most popular database for new startups. Facebook has <a href="http://www.ditii.com/2008/04/22/facebook-1800-mysql-servers-with-2-dbas/">1800</a> MySQL servers and zero Oracle servers. I remember asking an Oracle employee if Oracle was concerned about having approximately zero market share among the hot new companies. <br /><br />This is very smart. They have to say that they want to sell HW. That battle is lost. Oracle will sell Sparc to Fujitsu or shut it down as soon as it is not embarrassing. <br /><br />Oracle will not kill MySQL. It will just neglect it. If it gets any further revenue from Solaris, Java, etc. That is just a bonusAlvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-20253205146198702842009-04-13T14:31:00.000-07:002009-04-13T14:43:53.409-07:00Platforms make headwayAmazon announced <a href="http://aws.amazon.com/elasticmapreduce/">hadoop</a> support on EC2. Open source is slowly moving to creating a platform to compete with Google AppEngine. There is no doubt in my mind that cloud computing will evolve to new platform. <br /><br />The two top contenders for dominent cloud operating system are Hadoop and AppEngine. Google AppEngine scales easily and is slowly building out more features and becoming more open source. Hadoop needs more admin features to make the scaling automatic but it has access to the machine level. <br /><br />Simon Phipps has <a href="http://blogs.sun.com/webmink/entry/lump_of_links_for_april">complained</a> that AppEngine does not support all of the Java API. That is like complaining that planes do not support saddles. It is not possible for AppEngine to support all of the API and still remain fast. <br /><br />Many Java programmers wanted Java support so Google did the best job it could. The Java folk should just consider it J2Cloud or J2Fast.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-39571385430484868622009-03-01T22:06:00.000-08:002009-03-01T22:37:42.552-08:00Is Cloud the new DotCom?I saw the title of this article on <a href="http://www.elasticvapor.com/2009/03/cloud-is-not-new-dotcom.html">Elastic Vapor</a>. It is interesting because I have presented at 1 cloud meeting and attended 2 others in the last 7 days. I was at the meeting where Reuven is mocking George Zachary.<br /><br />Any industry that has 3 meetings within 7 days has far too high a level of froth. Is Cloud Computing the next DotCom? Of course it is. There are too many conferences and companies being formed for most of them not to tank.<br /><br />There were many big companies that came out of the DotCom era like Ebay, Yahoo, Amazon, Expedia, etc. There were many that died like Webvan. The first Platform as a Service play has already died. <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/SAAS/?p=668">Coghead</a> has already gone bankrupt.<br /><br />There are far too many Software as a Service plays being started up. How many online CRM systems does the world need? <br /><br />Cloud Computing is real. I believe that it will be <a href="http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/09/third-tsunami-of-computing-web-20-is.html">bigger than the first Internet wave.</a> Cloud Computing is the next huge opportunity and the next crash all rolled into one. <br /><br />Cloud Computing is an enabling technology. It lets startups build companies faster. It also let's them die faster. No data center to break down and sell on Ebay. The company stops paying it's compute bill and the data vanishes. Like a cloud. :)Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-10933135315706260152009-02-10T02:18:00.000-08:002009-02-10T02:22:28.198-08:00GoGrid command Line toolGoGrid has a command line tool called <a href="http://wiki.gogrid.com/wiki/index.php/API:cloudcontrol">cloudcontrol</a>. I replicated most of the features in a script called gogrid in cloudwizard/bin. I did not bother with some of the load balancer features. I did add a nice ssh feature.<br /><br />gogrid -c ssh --id IdOfServer<br />will find the password and give you a commandline direct to the server.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-59734994203514019792009-02-09T14:03:00.000-08:002009-02-09T15:48:58.979-08:00Adding GoGridI added the <a href="http://wiki.gogrid.com/wiki/index.php/API">GoGrid API</a> over the weekend. It was very simple. It only covers the compute portion. I could not get the storage function to work.<br /><br />There were a few confusing things like the IP interface. If I start a server, why doesn't it just use the first unassigned IP? I am guessing that the API did not want to guess whether you wanted a public or private IP. I added that functionality with a public default.<br /><br />There is a goofy thing with the API. Each server can be identified with a name or an Id. The name is not required to be unique but they do not issue an Id until the server is completely up.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-2011984886522921512009-02-01T23:46:00.000-08:002009-02-02T11:30:13.675-08:00Why Cloud Wizard?The biggest annoyance with Open Source software is the time it takes to install. Much of it is poorly documented and tested. I might download a package and find that it conflicts with something I need. It might take 3 hours to uninstall the application.<br /><br />One of the big reasons I wrote Cloud Wizard as a command line language was that I wanted to be able to exchange scripts. I thought that an Open Source author could write one script that could be copied off the web page. I would run that script against any compute cloud like Amazon. I would test a fully configured system for an hour and pay amazon 10 cents. <br /><br />Just not worrying about the problem of uninstalling would be worth 10 cents. If the system could be started fully configured, that would just be a bonus.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-19543082420651551002009-01-31T23:22:00.000-08:002009-02-01T23:13:15.571-08:00New APIAs I was plugging away at CW, it has evolved. The first version was going to be online. Then it was a scripting engine with some command line tools. Now, I think that there is no need for the additional command line tools. Each script can be run by itself with default authentication and a special command line argument parser that is provided.<br /><br /><br />Each cloud is implemented as a Python module. You can go<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">from cloudwizard.aws import Aws</span><br /><br />You can also go directly to the service you want<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">from cloudwizard.aws.ec2 import Ec2</span><br /><br />Or you can go directly to your machine<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">from cloudwizard.aws.ec2.instance import Instance</span><br /><br />All clouds will follow the same organizational structure.<br />Cloud/service/machine, directory, queue, or whatever.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-90093597882896711312008-11-25T14:47:00.000-08:002008-11-25T14:57:19.217-08:00Shoulders and Giants and Open SouceOne of the great things of Open Source is that you do not have to start from scratch. You can start with other open source. The problem with other open source is license campatibility. I am a programmer not a lawyer so how do I achieve my goals without running into license hell.<div><br /></div><div>Cloud Wizard is going to be based on other Open Source. I decided on the New BSD license because it is very liberal. I think the GPL's come with lectures and legal viruses. Other people may like that but I do not consider it Free Open Source Software if it comes legal obligations.</div><div><br /></div><div>All the package dependencies for CW will be BSD, MIT, Apache or some other really open license. If I really have to, I will include LGPL. All the dependencies will have to use easy_install to make it simple. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am working toward a PYPI release by Dec 1.</div>Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-9494455665709290122008-11-18T23:57:00.001-08:002008-11-19T00:46:55.941-08:00To Open Source or not to Open SourceI was plugging away on an idea for a cloud control panel. It would be easy to use and inexpensive with some cool new features. Eventually it would handle multiple clouds but initially I was working on Amazon. <div><br /></div><div>One of key features was a easy to use scripting language. I based the language on python. If I hid the imports, no python knowledge would be necessary. After I got it working, I had a tragic realization. I made it too easy. I had created a cross cloud scripting system that any decent python programmer could reproduce. The hard part was the analysis which I had done.</div><div><br /></div><div>I might as well make it open source so other people could add more clouds to it. As soon as I get my Amazon ids out of all the code, I will be releasing it under the new BSD license. </div>Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747264034203074648.post-9203134344380529932008-04-17T16:56:00.001-07:002008-04-17T17:12:21.975-07:00Google App Engine is the Saw Mill of the InternetI have been reading a lot about Google App Engine. I even got one of the precious 10K initial accounts. <br /><br />Many of the complaints are about the limitations. That is completely the wrong way to look at it. Amazon Web Services provides tools to create flexible tools to create Internet Services. They are pretty easy to use so lets think of them as a Black and Decker power tool set. With a bit of work, you can cut boards and build a house.<br /><br />Google App Engine is a Saw Mill. Great for wiping out entire forests of trees. If you want to hang a picture, you are doomed. It is not for creating blogs although this blog might be hosted on it. It is for creating a service to host millions of blogs. <br /><br />They gave enough free resources to host 5M page views per month. That is probably because 5M page views is beneath their notice and a rounding error.<br /><br />I can understand the concerns about Google lock-in, etc. That is fine if you have a smaller problem. However, if you need Big Table and Google scale, you would be a fool to write it yourself. Google has spent billions and man centuries of PHD time optimizing the life out of it. They have not announced pricing but I have a hard time believing that it will be more expensive than Amazon or any other ISP for forest clearing. <br /><br />GAE will not be a competitor for most ISPs just like saw mills didn't put Black and Decker out of business. It will accelerate the develop of Internet Scale businesses. Things that just required too much VC money before.Alvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06591546334660604804noreply@blogger.com0