Paul Miller of The Cloud of Data comments:
Cloud computing is great, right? As a way to get something up and running quickly, affordably, and with a minimum of fuss, it can rarely be beaten.
But some of the most compelling attributes of the public cloud are best suited to ephemeral or (relatively!) short-term use cases. You can spin up a cloud server in minutes. You can scale a cloud-based application to cope with the peaks and troughs of demand. You can control all of this through a web console, with no more than a credit card and a laptop. Silicon Valley, SoMa, Silicon Alley, Silicon Roundabout, Silicon Allee, Silicon Wadi, Silicon Forest, Silicon Welly, and the Silicon Bog (only one of those was made up, I think) are full to bursting with bright young things building exciting new products (and silly photo sharing sites) powered only by the cloud and expensive coffee.
An interesting take of the idea of permanence? Can the cloud keep data from now until forever? Because users are demanding access to anything they may have created over time. Tapes and discs wear out and break down. Can the cloud be the Eternity Vault?
Read more at: Can the cloud do ‘in perpetuity’ ?