Gordon Woolf's Blog

Is the future in The Cloud?

It was only a few years ago that Bill Gates and others were promoting the always-connected theme and even formed an always-on association to promote the idea of never turning your computer off; computer manufacturers were encouraged to not have a power switch, just a button which could leave the computer able to wake up on a call from the local or wide area network.

At the time I was not only sceptical but wrote articles pointing out the cost to the economy of wasted power usage and dangers from hackers having that always-on access to millions of computers.

They trashed the always-on promotion in response to pressure worldwide and most computers got their on/off switch back. But what they forecast has happened.

I still switch my computers off overnight, but the modem/router stays connected so we can still make and receive VOIP calls and the PCs immediately reconnect to the Internet when they are switched on.

A recent trip reminded me that there are large areas of this country where there are no Internet connections (nor mobile or cell phone coverage) because there are so few people, and where it exists outside capital cities and so the idea of working in the cloud is impossible.

I was wrong the first time. Maybe not this time as I've changed sides. We need better connections outside major cities before it can happen, and probably need a better and smaller way of satellite connection so mobile country connections can be usable and affordable for travellers (a permanent outback resident can opt for a satellite connection now and most large farms/cattle stations etc, even some communities, already have them).

The cloud does make sense, but to be usable outside of city centres it needs technological advances that, in my view, put it at least 3 to 5 years away.

Paying for less than no hosting

Why would a business pay out good money for a web domain address and then have nothing at the other end? I came across a hotel the other day where the link just produces the generic "unable to find a server of that name" response and decided that as it is one where we intended to go to eat, I'd check a little further. Yes, the domain is registered, and to a company which obviously owns the hotel. However, this was not just a temporrary glitch. Yet the web site of the hotel is included in all their advertisements, in local newspapers, in regional tourist magazines and even on some general web sites of where to eat. So I asked. I was told by the manager that their designer was working on a new site and that their web site would be back in "a month or so". When I suggested that they were paying for the name anyway and that most registrars or site hosts would charge no extra to put up a "site under construction" page with, at least, their address and phone numbers, I got a blank stare and a kind of grunt which I took to mean "we'll find out about that". Most of the clients I host are in touch if their site is offline for even a few minutes. How can I find ones like this who don't mind if it is off line for months? As I write this another month has gone by and the site is still offline, and still being advertised.