Il lustration by Ian Whadcock
Cloud computing
Clash of the clouds
Oct 15th 2009
From The Economist print edition
The launch of Windows 7 marks the end of an era in computing—and the beginning of an
epic battle between Microsoft, Google, Apple and others
DO YOU have plans for next weekend? If not, don’t worry: perhaps a friend will be throwing a party
to celebrate the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft’s new operating system, on October 22nd. You’ll
get help installing the program and be shown how to use the new features. To maximise the fun,
your friend will get tips from the “HostingYourParty” video on YouTube or go to the dedicated
website, complete with downloadable party favours and a trivia quiz (sample question: “The
Microsoft Pretzel Hunt is an annual pretzel hunt held at the Redmond campus. True or false?”).
This is not satire. It is a toe-curling attempt by Microsoft to create some buzz for its new
software. Fortunately for the firm, it will hardly matter, because Microsoft dominates the market for
operating systems. After the let-down that was its predecessor, Windows Vista, Windows 7 is
certain to be a success. There is plenty of pent-up demand, because Vista’s aged predecessor,
XP, is still widely used. Reviews of Windows 7 have been positive, some even glowing, although the
software is sometimes hard to install.
Windows 7 is not just a sizeable step for Microsoft. It is also likely to mark the end of one era in
information technology and the start of another. Much of computing will no longer be done on
personal computers in homes and offices, but in the “cloud”: huge data centres housing vast
storage systems and hundreds of thousands of servers, the powerful machines that dish up data
over the internet. Web-based e-mail, social networking and online games are all examples of what
are increasingly called cloud services, and are accessible through browsers, smart-phones or other
“client” devices. Because so many services can be downloaded or are available online, Windows 7
is Microsoft’s first operatin