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Contact UsLike many who follow technology, I have been entertained over the seemingly endless banter between Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Salesforce.com’s Marc Benioff.
There has been a lot made of the verbal jabs between the two heavy-hitting CEOs. For those that are late to the party, Marc Benioff has realized enormous success in taking SaaS to “The Cloud” while positioning Salesforce.com at the center of the Cloud Computing phenomenon. Larry Ellison, former mentor of Benioff at Oracle, has been very critical of the concept of Cloud Computing; first denying that it exists and then sarcastically claiming that “Everything is Cloud Computing.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UYa6gQC14o&feature=related
At the center of Ellison’s argument is the fact that computing, at its core, requires software, servers, networks, memory, micro-processors, etc. With all due respect to Larry, these comments come across as a bit obtuse and literal. You mean Cloud Computing isn’t actually a cloud? Of course not… Just like the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t really birds and the VW Beetle isn’t really a bug.
Now Larry is an intelligent guy, so his mocking of the cloud isn’t out of ignorance, but simply a marketing ploy to make headlines and publicize his company. So that is all well and good, but why should we care? Why is this architecture for delivering technology important?
The answer doesn’t lie in the technology. In fact it is just the opposite; it is the abstraction of the technology that is so meaningful. You see, in it’s purest form, technology is not for technologists; it’s for those who USE technology. The compelling thing about cloud solutions such as salesforce.com is the ability for businesses to focus on business problems, and the ability for end users to increase their efficiency and their effectiveness. These application can be deployed in weeks rather than months, complex infrastructure concerns become a distant memory, and the nimble nature of these system create the ability to quickly adapt to rapidly changing business requirements. In short, it allows all of us to get back to the roots of what computers were intended for: Making our lives easier.
So Mr. Ellison, I have great respect for you and everything that you have done for the industry. However, if you really fail to see the impact that cloud computing has made by taking the focus away from hardware, software patches, and code, it’s time that you look at the forest instead of the trees. Or more appropriately, focus on the limits of the sky rather than the “Cloud.”
Tags: Cloud Computing, Larry Ellison, Marc Benioff, salesforce.com