Alex Hern

Dispatches from the front line of the internet

Half of Americans think cloud computing is affected by stormy weather

The cloud ≠ a cloud.

By Alex Hern Published 30 August 2012 14:42

Storm clouds gather over Tampa, Florida. But will iCloud hold up? Photograph: Getty Images

You may remember the story of the Galway councillor who thought that cloud computing would only work in areas with lots of rain. The Telegraph reported it, for instance:

The Independent councillor said that the Government should be doing more to harness clean industries for the Connemara area and he named wind energy and cloud computing as two obvious examples.

“Connemara in particular could become a centre of excellence for wind energy harnessing, as it is open to the Atlantic,” he said.

“Also in terms of cloud computing, we have dense thick fog for nine months of the year, because of the mountain heights and the ability to harness this cloud power, there is tremendous scope for cloud computing to become a major employer in this region.”

Sadly, the story was a hoax. The councillors named in the story don't actually exist. (Strangely, the Telegraph removed the write-up from their site.)

But that doesn't mean that there aren't people who do think like that. Matt Yglesias notes a press release from Citrix which reveals that:

The survey of more than 1,000 American adults was conducted in August 2012 by Wakefield Research and shows that while the cloud is widely used, it is still misunderstood. For example, 51 percent of respondents, including a majority of Millennials, believe stormy weather can interfere with cloud computing.

Cloud Computing: Not Actually Anything To Do With Clouds

More from Alex Hern

View the discussion thread.

5 comments

Fri, 2012-08-31 08:49 — bill23 (not verified)

The story about the councillor might not be true, but I had a ding-dong battle in the Dorset Echo over a number of months with councillors and their non-job parasites about the NHS computer. It was never going to work regardless of time or billions spent because serial computers don't like large data bases. I had the same argument with a city-worker in San Francisco of all places. And the police in the UK will soon come unstuck with their data base.
The point is that present day computers would be best used on the desktop of sacked local government non-job parasites, because unlike councillors they can apply both rules and logic.
Check out CompareTheBureaucrat.com, it will be up and running soon.

Thu, 2012-08-30 19:46 — Meaghen (not verified)

Definitely some interesting findings from this survey to say the least! Not only are there misunderstandings regarding the cloud but there are definitely some fears also. It will be interesting to watch as this technology catches and eventually becomes a societal norm.

Meaghen
Mosaic Technology

Thu, 2012-08-30 16:38 — Three6t (not verified)

Spot on Shaun...

You'd have to see exactly how the question was phrased to see if this was really another opportunity to feel superior over those dumb Americans...wonder if they all vote Rep too...

Or whether it's just a general belief that whether can affect your Internet connection for a number of reasons.

Wonder how many UK people also believe it...???

Thu, 2012-08-30 16:40 — Three6t (not verified)

Oops...auto-correct fail
That's "weather". :0

Thu, 2012-08-30 15:55 — Sean O'Hare (not verified)

There is a grain of truth in the statement that stormy weather can interfere with cloud computing. A hurricane can certainly bring down power and phone lines as well as disrupt satellite communications. Any such event will certainly interfere with internet connections. In-house computing is of course equally susceptible to the first of these, but nothing generator can't fix. Without the internet any remote computing is dead in the water.