Cloud computing

Kevin Drum

What's different is that Google's products are all cloud-based. When Google Reader goes away on July 1, that's it. It's gone. If it were an ordinary bit of software that I'd installed on my PC, this wouldn't be a problem. It would keep on working for years even if it never got another update. I'd need to replace it eventually—because of an OS upgrade or a desire for new features that finally got too strong—but I'd probably have years to work that out.
 

I think that this element of the new model of software is worth a lot more attention then it is getting.  Just look at the sim city fiasco and ask what would happen if Microsoft made the same mistakes with a new cloud version of Office.  Now Microsoft is an extraordinarily well run company, so the chances of that are quite small.

But the general trend towards renting access is going to make interuptions of service (or just the internet misbehaving) a much bigger deal.