Follow this blog:
RSS

If the Feds endorse cloud computing will you follow?

By | September 15, 2009, 12:02 PM PDT

The federal government made a big splash with the launch of Apps.gov, a storefront designed to ease procurement headaches acquiring software and save money.

U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra is into the cloud. The launch of Apps.gov, as detailed Tuesday, is aimed toward agencies and department that need to innovate on the cheap—assuming you can call an IT budget of $75 billion a year cheap.

Assessing all the moving parts the real importance of Apps.gov will be as a case study. If the government—arguably a monolithic, slow enterprise riddled with legacy apps—can move to cloud apps why can’t your company?

There’s also another ripple effect here: Technology suppliers will increasingly have to play the software as a service game. As currently constructed players like Google and Salesforce.com are dominating the Apps.gov categories.

Cloud apps aren’t going to replace all of your software, but the feds are trying to show that you can replace more than you think.

Start your week smarter with our weekly e-mail newsletter. It's your cheat sheet for good ideas. Get it.

Larry Dignan

About Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is the editor-in-chief of SmartPlanet.

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan

Editor-in-Chief

Larry Dignan is editor-in-chief of SmartPlanet and ZDNet. He is also editorial director of TechRepublic. Previously, he was an editor at eWeek, Baseline and CNET News. He has written for WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, New York Times and Financial Planning. He holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the University of Delaware. He is based in New York but resides in Pennsylvania.

Follow him on Twitter.

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan
Larry Dignan does not hold any investments in the companies he covers.
If you liked this, don't miss...
2
Comments

Join the conversation!

Follow via:
RSS
0 Votes
+ -
RE: If the Feds endorse cloud computing will you follow?
No. Being a free citizen of the United States of American I will do what I want to do. If the cloud is where I think I should go, I'll go there if I can.

Exactly where in the enumurated powers listed in the constitiution do the feds get any authority to, as you say, try "to show that you can replace more than you think"?

Is it possible that the feds are quicker to look at the cloud because they are farther behind, that is, the benefit for them would actually be greater than it would be for the rest of us?
Posted by kgsheppard
16th Sep 2009
0 Votes
+ -
A bad idea is bad no matter who's playing along
If the jobs a business seeks to get done can be done without having to get on the "cloud", and if those jobs can be done more securely, and if the data can be safeguarded and accessed without having to worry about who else is using or massaging or "stealing" your data, then it's best to stay off the "cloud" environments.

A bad idea is no less bad when the government does it or if a gazillion dollars super-multinational-conglomerate does it.
Posted by adornoe
16th Sep 2009
Join the conversation
Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

Join the SmartPlanet community and join the conversation! Signing up is fast and free. Don't wait -- we want to hear your opinion!