Wabewalker

location: Home

mood: amused

I normally hate these things, but this one caught my fancy and the result met my approval:

OK, so grid computing is no longer hip, but cloud computing is? Fine. I’m cool with that because I make no claim to being the overlord of technorati fashion. But as a technical person, I feel the need to point out that there is a fundamental difference between grid computing and cloud computing.

Grid computing

Using a lot of computers in parallel to achieve an easily decomposable task.

Cloud computing

Using a lot of computers that you do not own to achieve a task. Equally, providing the hardware and infrastructure to allow others to perform cloud computing.

Got the difference? Using EC2 to launch your online social network for left-handed goldfish fanciers? Cloud computing. Using GMail because you don’t want to lug your laptop across the country? Cloud computing. Using Hadoop on a private cluster to estimate word probability in documents? Grid computing, no matter how unsexy you think it sounds.

Sorry, nameless SVP: you’re in charge of grid computing at Yahoo even if it does not look good on your pathetic résumé. If you can’t tell the difference, you should be fucking glad you have a job at all because I would have canned your ass long ago.

Personally, I’d rather work with grid computing than cloud computing. I’ve found that a technology only becomes useful after the initial hype has faded. But that’s just me: substance over style.

location: home

mood: amused

I have found a replacement for the late, lamented Fake Steve Jobs:

Linux Hater’s Blog

Excessive swearing, but charming in its anger; and dead-on, especially describing design problems that could have been fixed years ago had egos not been in the way.

Amazon’s a priori data mining algorithm is always a source of entertainment. Take their latest missive:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

We've noticed that customers who have purchased or rated "The Andromeda Strain" have also purchased "Philippine Fighting Arts by Julius Melegrito Vol. 1: Single-Stick Tactics and Applications" on DVD. For this reason, you might like to know that "Philippine Fighting Arts by Julius Melegrito Vol. 1: Single-Stick Tactics and Applications" will be released on June 17, 2008. You can pre-order yours by following the link below.

Wanted: a content analyzer and classifier for Amazon.

location: 2821 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara, CA

mood: indifferent

Image stolen from uncov without permission.
Please don’t sue.