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Balmer's new cloud initiative

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    Balmer's new cloud initiative

    Wonder what effect this will have on all of us!! Balmer says (as I understand it - see http://www.wxpnews.com/) they are going to discontinue development on their server software, in particular server 2008 R2. He says they are going to more or less try to force companies to put their servers on an MS server controlled and managed by MS. (They also have a new version of SQL for the initiative called SQL Azure!)

    So a company would not even have any server hardware. For many of us who shadow stuff this could be the end. And unless Alpha's "server" would run on this new platform, and could be modified to also run the new SQL, it could also be disastrous for our web programs.

    Maybe, since stuff like this takes a while, Alpha can adapt. And for those of us who shadow, a linux file server would be the preferred way around it.
    Cole Custom Programming - Terrell, Texas
    972 524 8714
    [email protected]

    ____________________
    "A young man who is not liberal has no heart, but an old man who is not conservative has no mind." GB Shaw

    #2
    Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

    Problem with Alpha is the dedicated server.

    It is now a business for Alpha but in the long term it is also for Alpha a bad thing. This road will end some day.

    With Alpha it is difficult to take advantage of web services already available. It is a waste of resources.

    Ken

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

      The "cloud" seems like a way to leap frog Oracle. I wonder what Oracle's response will be ? -- tom

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

        Originally posted by martinwcole View Post
        ...He says they are going to more or less try to force companies to put their servers on an MS server controlled and managed by MS. ...
        Or force people over to Google? The more things gravitate towards the "cloud" (the fog?), the less influence MS will have, I would guess. There may be a certain inevitability to it; up to a point anyway. I mean, who uses DOS anymore? A few holdouts, yes, but the rest of the world has moved on.
        Peter
        AlphaBase Solutions, LLC

        [email protected]
        https://www.alphabasesolutions.com


        Comment


          #5
          Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

          1. MS Cloud Services -- Azure: End of SQL 2008? Pure nonsense.

          No matter how you look at it there are always companies that want their own stuff on their own stuff. MS will not stop selling back end server equipment, nor will Oracle/Sun, and others. Its a great revenue model for MS and they are adding these types of services to be competitive and to not lose out on revenue streams. These are basically customers that were looking to put their stuff in the cloud anyway -- If not MS, they will go to Oracle/Sun, Google, or IBM.

          IBM started this way back before I was even filling out my data punch cards. One of my clients rented everything from IBM. Large grocery store. IBM had a building and all the stores connected to it. It was like a private cloud. IBM still does this.

          2. "Alpha's "server" would run on this new platform" - From what I understand, standard MS SQL drivers will work. MS wants it to be incredibly easy for existing clients to migrate. It would be pure stupidity for MS to introduce a new standard. Also it supports ODBC, again from what I understand. A5 also supports this.

          A5V10 does not need to run on the this service. You are essentially moving your database off of your server (wherever that is) and on to MS's cloud. Easy, and it may be the right solution for many A5 users. Yes of course MS also has its own cloud based app servers too, but the total cost of the solution is not just how much it costs to host the solution.

          $500 for a server engine is pretty dang cheap compared to all of the options out there, and you get to own it.

          3. "problem with Alpha is the dedicated server." How so? How will it end?

          What would be the business case for either of those statements?

          Models:
          1. Intranet (own all hardware / data, and services)
          2. Intranet - managed (own hardware / data- outsource services)
          3. Web (own all hardware and services)
          4. Web managed (own hardware / data - outsource services)
          5. Web managed - co-located (own hardware / data - outsource hosting)
          6. Web managed - co-located (own hardware / data - outsource hosting - outsource services)
          7. Web managed - hosted (hosted hardware / data)
          8. Web managed - hosted (hosted hardware / outsource data - outsource services)

          and

          9. For the enterprising: A5V10 as a hosted application service where you rent A5 services and MySQL/Oracle/Azure in a load balanced enterprise level carrier grade system. It is doable.

          Well anyway - just a rant.

          Regards,

          Michael Carroll

          www.redrocksbluesky.com
          [email protected]
          435-275-5175

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

            Originally posted by MichaelCarroll View Post
            . It would be pure stupidity for MS to introduce a new standard.
            Yeah,

            Nothing to worry, Alpha users can always use those ODBC -drivers!

            Ken

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

              Ken,

              Helsinki syndrome?

              Feel better already?

              Ron

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

                When that happens alpha five itself (or Alpha six) will be a web service residing in one of the clouds already mentioned, so I dont think we should worry now.
                Cheers
                Mauricio

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

                  You can take advantage of cloud computing (as a developer) already today.

                  I use Amazon E2 On-demand instances for test purposes.

                  Pricing is okey because you pay just for the usage.

                  You can forgot your own test servers. No troubles anymore.

                  And users outside USA can use the cloud in Ireland, response time is better.


                  Ken

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

                    Ken,
                    Are you putting an Alpha web app on the "cloud" computer at Amazon?
                    Are they "hosting" the Alpha server?
                    Cole Custom Programming - Terrell, Texas
                    972 524 8714
                    [email protected]

                    ____________________
                    "A young man who is not liberal has no heart, but an old man who is not conservative has no mind." GB Shaw

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

                      No,
                      As I mentioned in this thread the problem with Alpha is the dedicated server. You can't use resources available.

                      So my web devolopment is mainly now with php/mysql + ajax, but I have not yet totally forget Alpha.


                      Ken

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

                        I am already a victim of Balmer's initiatives. I was using VFP Visual FoxPro from the beginning when it was Fox Software. I have many applications written over those years. Then MS decided to ax VFP. That left all of the VFP people to scramble for new development tools.
                        So I did a little research and comparison and settled on Alpha. So really, I guess it was a blessing in disguise... well mostly... except for that one (CENSORED) error...
                        Win 10 64 Development, Win 7 64 WAS 11-1, 2, Win 10 64 AA-1,2, MySql, dbForge Studio The Best MySQL GUI Tool IMHO. http://www.devart.com/dbforge/mysql/studio/

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Balmer's new cloud initiative

                          I remember there was as initiative to make Alpha pages run on Apache but I think it never took off
                          Cheers
                          Mauricio

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