Sun breaks through the clouds

Where are the normal procedures?

Has anyone noticed that you can't backup ZFS yet? All you can do is copy the files off but that isn't quite the same since the snapshot isn't quite reality there either and it messes with atimes. The zfs send (formerly backup) command works fine unless you have a single bit error in the stream and then you end up with nothing. How can someone come up with a robust file system and forget that it needs to get to tape with high error rates?

Reserved Instances anyone?

It's going to be very hard for Sun to compete against Amazon's Reserved Instances. For example, I pay $1000 for 3 years to get a dual Intel Xeon 5345 with almost 2GB RAM at the lovely price of 6c (4p) per hour (that's 45 bucks a month or 30 quid a month). How can Sun compete with this? I bet Amazon even has a patent pending on this amazing business model.

SMART Moves or Dumb Plays .... ITs All Locked and Revealed in D.NAProfiles ....

.....with Dessert Inner Centres?

"Sun is going to operate a public cloud and will initially target developers and startups as the users for the platform."

Hmmm. Does that actually mean that they themselves will be hypermanic and proactively target/contact third parties spontaneously with Flash Cash Engagement for their Businesses/Programs/Principals. Or will it be the same old Brain Dead Model which has them as the Big Brother Peer Reviewer/Overseer, drawing a Fee Stream for Services Rendered on IT InfraStructure/Sun's Corner of the IT Infrastructure rather than propping up a Competitor and another Moribund Market Parasite/Virtual Bug/Industry Pimp?

For the Former they will need SMARter Phormation Intelligence whilst for the Latter, just some dumb Hicks with more Money to Lose than Cloud Sense to Use.

It will be interesting to hear of their choice in the decisions/mergers and/or acquisitions/joint ventures made.

Given that they haven't set the World alight with anything in the Past, does the Present hype suggest a Future from them with the Latter Model Driver still Leading their Programming ....... although with some new SuperFluidIT Acid/Great Whitehat Hope Dope introduced into their Virtual System of Operation/Cloud Control, you would never be QuITe sure what sort of AIMagical Mystery Turing Trips they'd be Enabled to dDeliver ....... although of course, they Sure as Hell would, and Fully Assured and Insured and Secure in ITs Secured Core Processing Units too.

Uncle Sam may have to Conclude and Concede, in Order to Race Ahead, rather than Wallow and Falter Badly and Madly in Despair and Disrepair, that they are Newbies in the Stealthy Environment of Cloud Formation Flying and Informed Phormation Phishing and ITs CyberIntelAIgently Designed Virtualised Power Controls. ....... InterNetworking Network Levers, and thus is ITs Field, a Vitally Important Strategic Investment Priority/Necessity/Ooportunity.

Miss that Boat and All will Drown at Sea in Stormy C Conditions rather than Survive and Prosper in Bright dD Domains...... [which you should notice is not a question?]

AI Walking on the WWWild Side of Human Perception for IT Maintenance in Sanity*

Sam,

Re: all that brown acid you took at Berkely, you forget to consider the Pusherman ... and TO Berkeley. ..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-9iNVoeghI

* And the Enigma which Straddles the Line and Dabbles in Madness and Sanity for the Universal Control of Fate and Destiny is revealed in the few lyrics around the 07:30 mark in that video clip. ..... but it is Ancient Wisdom seldom MasterClassed. However ...... that was Then and There and this is Here and Now and the Tomorrow Built Yesterday is the Past in the Future which plays No Active Part in what IT Builds Every Day with Virgin Memory and HyperRadioProActive Imaginative Novel Sourcing.

Questions... Questions...

Anon asks, "Seems that one needs the latest version of Open Office to "fully utilize" this new cloud."

No. The Storage Cloud is only one cloud, and it supports WebDav, which is supported by Adobe and Microsoft commercial products.

Anon asks, "Has anyone noticed that you can't backup ZFS yet?"

No, because people are all backing it up.

http://www.solarisinternals.com/wiki/index.php/ZFS_Best_Practices_Guide#ZFS_Backup_.2F_Restore_Recommendations

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1640183659/bctid16847345001

http://blogs.sun.com/timf/en_IE/entry/zfs_automatic_snapshots_in_nv

http://blogs.sun.com/timf/entry/zfs_automatic_for_the_people

http://blogs.sun.com/timf/entry/zfs_backup

Anon asks, "How can someone come up with a robust file system and forget that it needs to get to tape with high error rates?"

Tape is robust, which is why it is used on space craft and works for retrieving data and storing data for decades in harsh environments. People verify tapes as part of a backup process. Tape has error correction, for odd situations.