Saturday, August 15, 2015

Part Two: Storage and Backup




In the beginning was the server.  There were no “desktop” computers, and the servers were directly accessed with complicated coded messages designed to get answers from calculations based on on or off, 1 or 2 positions within the mechanics of the beast, by operators who typed into the server keyboard. As the mechanics became larger and faster and more questions could be answered and calculations performed, the “languages” developed to speak to it were codified so that regular people could learn them to use them to punch 1s and 2s into cards, that were then fed into the servers that were by then so large they took up half a floor of a library (you remember that, from about 1970, right?).  

The technology for moving components in the machines closer together, based on how much heat the traveling electrons emitted and how well the materials used could take it, advanced exponentially through the 80s, mostly through the innovations of Seymore Cray, the eccentric genius of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and suddenly the monsters were tamed to the size of (and looked like) a hotel banquette while they could crunch enough numbers to impress entire nations. No one then envisioned a laptop.

But the desktop computer was the next big thing (well, small actually) to come down the pike, and then the competition was for making as much memory or space for calculations inside the tiny things as possible all through the 90s. At the same time, the desktop design facilitated their use in all kinds of businesses that could not have afforded the cost or space of the previous computers. Once this started to happen, and the little things could not store all the bits of information from a whole big company inside, the familiar term “server” came in use, where the desktops downloaded their data to work on from machines in the back of the house that could store much, much more.  They used to sell racks for stacking the servers higher and higher as companies needed to keep more and more information, and from these the desktops became cable-connected “workstations” that would then “backup” or transfer the new data they created through the cables to the on-site servers every night. Basically, this is still how it works in most large corporations, but the exponential growth of memory has made servers much more compact and easier to have around. Since the internet has become available, the amount of saved information boggles the mind.
            
Now, there is the Cloud. I have had little direct experience with the Cloud, as I am paranoid and assume that one day we will wake up and nothing electronic will work.  I am placing my bet that if I have electricity to power the iPad I can read the books I have stored in it (which BTW was the reason I got it to start with–over 200 books and counting and not a bit of shelf space used!).  I am purchasing a hand-crank generator for that. Whereas, if you have stored information on a remote Cloud server, you could not access it without the internet.  Which is probably doomed, but it is the only communications game in town these days. I hear they may shut down the post office! New devices incorporate the Cloud for your information almost whether you want it or not. I doubt it can be avoided for very long. 

The Cloud is a very large bank of servers created by companies in electronically centralized but physically redundant and widespread places where you (or the company you work for) can store your infomation off site (the site being your computer or device) for a fee, of course. Your servers will back up to their servers through the internet. Actually, some services, like my Kindle e-book service, provide the extra Cloud space so you will buy more and not worry about filling up the multigigabytes you have in the device at no overt charge to you.  Other online Cloud services like Dropbox provide a smaller amount of memory for free (like 2 gigabytes)  and then if you want more, there will be a charge. The Cloud location out there in the universe is handy if you have two or more computers, say work and home, because you can access it through the internet from any location. They make it easy to drag and drop a file from one computer into the Cloud that can then be found and downloaded into another. This is the best benefit I see in the Cloud, although I guess if I had kilogigs of music or maxibytes of scientific data I might be more interested. Still too paranoid to rely on it, I am bummed to find that all the computer applications I know and love, like Word and the Adobe Suite, have begun to be available for upgrade only by purchasing licensed monthly access from the Cloud. Buying an upgrade for your applications is another shining artifact of the past, and I find this makes me very anxious.  I do believe there is little recourse if you intend to stay connected, however, so I am going to just suck this up and do it. Everything I own needs upgraded, a bit of old-fashioned planned obsolescence if I ever saw it!

No comments:

Post a Comment