[vcf-midatlantic] Great vintage computer article.

[Dean Notarnicola]

*​"**But I don't lose data. ;)" * You're damn right on that one.  ​I'm in
pharma, so we are heavily regulated and must adhere to GxP and other
regulatory practices. This included not losing control of our data. It
means we tippy-toe into the cloudscape, but the offering are starting to
improve.

Dean

On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 1:31 PM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:

>
>   Agreed 100%.
>
>   In network administration, having mostly gotten my start in a gov't
> agency, where loss of control of data directly and literally impacts
> national security, I operate from a slightly different philosophy.  I am
> very distrustful of external entities, and a bit of a control freak as a
> result.  Whether that philosophy or a different one is right for your
> organization is something only you can decide.
>
>   If the typical internal IT department can't provide great services, then
> they are understaffed, inappropriately staffed, or underfunded. Yes, that's
> an idealistic view in this world of "every dime must go toward executive
> compensation".  But I don't lose data. ;)
>
>              -Dave
>
>
> On 04/19/2017 01:19 PM, Dean Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
>
>> Dave,
>> My argument with "It's just someone else's computer" isn't with that it's
>> someone else's computer; of course it is. I know you know this, but the
>> misconception is that cloud is no better than a simple co-lo or hosted
>> service (until recently, many offerings were no better than that.) There
>> needs to be elastic, redundant, geographically diverse resources that are
>> tied together to provide fast, transparent access to services. And as I
>> previously mentioned, any good strategy goes beyond using a single
>> provider, because shit happens. This goes beyond simple money saving
>> excercies (most good cloud deployments DO NOT save money) or resource
>> constraints, it's about being able to procure a class of service that
>> would
>> normally be beyond the reach of typical internal IT department.
>>
>> Dean
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 12:59 PM, Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <
>> vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
>>
>> On 04/19/2017 11:58 AM, Dean Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
>>>
>>> I have to agree with Bill. Given the proper use case, cloud (true cloud,
>>>> which is not just "someone else's computer", a common misconception) can
>>>> be
>>>> an advantage. Moving some of our compute and storage resources to the
>>>> cloud
>>>> allows us more agility to react to changes and liberates our limited IT
>>>> resources to engage in higher value strategic work.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>   It is in fact "someone else's computer".
>>>
>>>   Dean, please don't make the mistake of assuming that, because I don't
>>> use "cloud" services, that I don't know what they are or how they work.
>>> I'm
>>> somewhat embarrassed to say that I was directly involved in some of the
>>> earliest such efforts in the 1990s, and I'm not exactly out of touch
>>> today.
>>>
>>>   So, in your definition of "true cloud", who exactly owns the computers?
>>> If your answer isn't "me" or "our company", then my assertion stands.
>>>
>>>   Based on my (admittedly somewhat combative) reply to Bill, I'd say the
>>> problem your company has addressed by using cloud services wasn't a lack
>>> of
>>> agility or lack of services, but lack of sufficient IT staff.
>>>
>>>   I wish you the best of luck with those services, but I think we both
>>> know what'll happen when one of them goes tits-up without warning.
>>>
>>>
>>>               -Dave
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
>>> New Kensington, PA
>>>
>>>
>
> --
> Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
> New Kensington, PA
>