General Consultant Discussion

So if Utility companies are worried that the cost of generating power 'on premise' is now gaining parity with 'cloud based power' and could soon be less expensive... Can somebody explain to me why the entire IT industry & press seem to think computing should go in the opposite direction???

Big picture: Companies are tired of dealing with their IT staff and confusing system requirements and configurations. And, yes, I think if the pendulum swings to the cloud that it will also swing back.

Wayne's pithy summary is it. The swing back will likely look more like a ""private cloud"". I-BN is essentially offering that functionality now.

Haven't we made one swing already? The cloud reminds me of mainframes - huge centralized processing and only needing a dumb terminal to connect. Not much different from thin or zero clients connecting to the cloud server.

Exactly @MoiraGoggin , this is Deja Vu all over. Paying us a few bucks to deal with configurations vs. essentially being forced to buy a new system every 3-4 years based on cash flows is going to grow old for many very quickly IMHO. We can't get traditional ERP customers to buy a new system after 10-15, why are they now going to pay that same amount every 3-4 (less than 3 in some cases

I've always thought that the cloud model made sense for smaller sized companies, no IT staff, multiple locations which needed to access applications with minimal concern to setup and maintenance. Beyond that I do expect the pendulum to swing. Look what's happened just yesterday with the release of iOS 7 update. All these pie-eyed developers who ""made a fortune"" on their iOS apps but saw demand lag and dwindle have suddenly sat bold upright with the new idea of charging for the new iOS7 version of their app even though it looks exactly like the old one. I think there are going to be some ""sad faces"" in the iOS developer lunch room as many of these lucky souls awaken to the fact that they got an early hit and perhaps not as many people are keen to repurchase -- http://goo.gl/cjRJrh tl;dr: A lot of this demand and hype is marketing.

It is interesting though how most app developers don't get anything that equates to 'maintenance' like traditional software. I guess that's why there is so much momentum with in app purchases. People expect to pay one price (very low) and then get free upgrades forever. As a consumer I like it, but I don't see how an an app developer, other than the largest who make money on tie ins like Angry Birds, ever makes real money with this. I bet 98% of the apps in the app store have earned the developer less than $5k.