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Brad Smith on the Cloud in the 21st century

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Note: Cross posted from IUpdateable from Eric Nelson.

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Something a little different. No mentions of web roles, nodes or queues – but interesting nevertheless.

Brad Smith gave Microsoft’s vision of cloud computing devoted to the economic success of Europe. The event was organized by E!Sharp in the Auditorium of the Museum of Art and History, in Brussels, on January 26th. Brad Smith is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Microsoft Corporation.

Brad gives a strong steer on our commitment to (amongst other things):

  • First class Interop
  • Supporting Open Source in the Cloud – he includes a discussion of the work by Domino Pizza to use Azure

Plus plenty of reality checks on Cloud and why it is something governments, organisations and individuals need to embrace. Ultimately a lot of it is about confidence.

The four challenges the industry needs to address with the help of government are:

  • Connectivity – we need high speed reliable connectivity. Governments need to focus on enabling this for their citizens
  • Single Market – harmonisation across geographies. We need to recognise that data is now regularly moving across geographies. Need to recognise a “consumer in Italy, stores email in Ireland, managed by a US company”
  • Privacy - “Do people still care?”. Brad - “Absolutely”. The “right to choose” who sees your information.
  • Security – laws and enforcement against digital crimes. Cooperation across geographies. Principals that companies must adhere to.

A lot of his focus was on the need for the European Union to look at the above rather than member states if Cloud is to be adopted widely.

FAIL (the browser should render some flash content,not this)

I often get asked “Is Microsoft serious about Cloud Computing given its history on the desktop?”. I think the answer is pretty clear from this presentation. (Oh and the answer is a big Yes!)