Simon Wardly, Software Services Manager for Canonical, is a strong advocate of distributed computing – the mythical cloud that exists in the modern web world – and he’s spent some time on his personal blog to go into some depth about the current “state of the cloud.” While not directly relevant to Symbian it makes for great background reading over your mid-morning coffee.

The problem with the term "cloud" beyond being meaningless and fuzzy, it is often used to describe this change in I.T. as something new and innovative. The term helps disguise a fundamental shift towards a world where the bits don't matter and it's all about services. The term allows for all manner of things to be called cloud, many of which have little to do with the standardisation of an activity and its provision through utility services.

And this delightful kicker at the end had me giggling….

We use the term "cloud" because it's what customers, analysts and others expect to hear. This of course doesn't stop us from explaining what is really happening and busting the "cloud" myths that exist.

The full rant is on Wardley’s Blog.