The Origins and Future of Distributed Computing and Clouds - The Practice of Cloud System Administration - page 469

who used an 8-bit computer to balance his or her checkbook in 1983 ever have imagined
Facebook or Google Glass?
Whatwillfollowcloudcomputingisanyone'sguess.Theapplicationsoftomorrowwill
demand computing resources that are orders-of-magnitude faster, have lower latency, and
are less expensive. It will be very exciting to see what develops.
Exercises
1. This appendix provides a history of five eras of computing technology: preweb
era, first web era, dot-bomb era, second web era, and cloud computing era. For
each era, describe the level of economic prosperity, the technological improve-
ments, and the expectations for reliability and computing power.
2. The practice of owning the entire process instead of using external providers for
certain steps or parts is called “vertical integration.” Which examples of vertical
integration were described in this appendix? What were the benefits?
3. What role did open source software play in the maturation of the second web era?
4. Describe the redundant reliability levels replaced by ROC-style distributed com-
puting.
5. The history discussed in this appendix is described as inevitable. Do you agree or
disagree? Support your case.
6. What era will follow cloud computing? Identify the trends described in this ap-
pendix and extrapolate them to predict the future based on past performance.