Cloud, circa 2017

Grazed from ZDNet. Author: Joe McKendrick.

Imagine being at a business tech conference in 2017. Where will we be? What will speakers be saying about the whole cloud phenomenon of 2012?

My ZDNet colleague Phil Wainewright just posted his predictions for cloud computing, as it will look five years from now, and I couldn’t agree more with his predictions, listed below (a couple of my own predictions follow as well):

• Cloud is delivered on mobile, includes social: Business will get the cloud even more tha the tech folks, and it will endure, "not as a technology buzzword but as a layman’s term for connected automation," Phil says.
• Many businesses will thrive because of cloud: "Cloud, in its widest sense of being connected to a global network of on-demand resources, is transforming entire industries.
• Many businesses will falter because of cloud: There’s also a dark side, since the disruption cloud creates will put many established companies out of business.
• Government will impede the progress of cloud: Am interesting prediction by Phil: "Policy makers want to regulate the cloud — and that’s when they see it as a force for good. When they discover the disruptive impact on those established industries that are past masters at political lobbying, it’s all too easy to see how governments will be tempted to clip the wings of cloud. Many governments across the globe are already curtailing their citizens’ access to cloud resources. As economic pressures intensify, this will get worse, not better."…

• Cloud is neither public nor private: "The distinction between private and public cloud is illusory," Phil points out.
• Cloud is established, so less discussed by name. By 2017, there will be no ‘cloud.’ Just computing. As Phil puts it: "As cloud becomes increasingly mainstream, it will be mentioned less and less, simply because it will become the default means of operating IT."…

Read more from the source @ http://www.zdnet.com/cloud-circa-2017-7000006106/