“The Cloud” has slightly different meanings in different contexts and for different people. But in most cases it is the term for the rich and powerful environment that provides easy access to applications, content and data from resources most of us do not even have to know or care about. From the end user perspective it’s just there and available. And accessible from almost any device you can name from desktop, set top, portable, handheld or any number of other devices. It is powerful, convenient, cost effective and gets our requests fulfilled efficiently.
But did you know that today’s “Cloud” is just a more evolved and ubiquitous form of another technology-enabled environment that had its beginning more than 50 years ago? And existed in its prime in the mid 1970s?
It was called Computer Timesharing. Stay tuned right here for the first of an upcoming multipart blog that will bring you descriptions of why it came into being, what it was, how it was used, how it was powered and what it paved the way for in modern cloud computing. A blog by people that were there as developers, providers and end users. Scientists, engineers, computer professionals, business people and government agencies. It touched them all, gave great value and led the way to today’s Cloud.