Tagged with 'server'

Apparently Google is not content with merely taking over the world. From their early beginnings as the ubiquitous little search engine that could, they’ve made a name for themselves through adding innovation on top of their acquisitions and partnerships. Until recently, web browsers were immune to this innovation—Google applications required Firefox, IE, Safari, Opera, and any other modern web browser to run.

But as of September 2, 2008, Google stepped onto even their toes, releasing the Google Chrome browser that is fast, standards-compliant, and above all, looks ready to do business as a shell for Google’s web-based word processor, spreadsheet, e-mail, calendar, and other applications. The fact you can also browse the world wide web through the program is a bonus.

Bigger Better Browser

Life hasn’t been the same since browser technology advanced to where developers could create interactive experiences within a web browser that looked and felt like desktop applications. These rich internet applications (RIA) paved the way for what we refer to as cloud computing: software and data that exists anywhere on the Internet are funneled through an application on a user’s desktop, who doesn’t need to know how they work or where they’re stored. So long as the applications behave as expected, and reassure the user that their data is safe, they are happy with not knowing.

Google Chrome seeks to build on everything for which we’ve used a web browser to date, and move us all into territory we have yet to explore. The very nature of the product lends itself to more creative uses, many of which don’t even exist, or may be twirling cartwheels inside developers’ heads.

In most companies the browser is the central application on a user’s desktop. In my previous life as a logistics data analyst, we used our web browser to connect to a software suite to manage our workload, cut purchase orders, pay invoices, write contracts, follow up on back orders, process returns, communicate with our co-workers, track our time… standard business stuff. Looking back, this was a rather limited use for our browser in terms of an application enabler.

In other parts of the Internet world, the web browser has been used to run more complicated web applications like wikis and blogs, content management systems, document control systems, and of course, true desktop-like applications. The developers behind Google Chrome saw this brave new world and designed the product to be invisible. After all, the important part of your day includes everything but the technology.

If Looks Could Kill Other Browsers

The first thing I noticed about Chrome is how it looks. The interface is basic, but sleek. There is no application menu, and no toolbars that take up a lot of space. Everything that could happen happens in the browser, or at least in a browser tab. The tabs appear at the very top of the window, creating the look of a physical filing cabinet. Other browsers’ tabs also point upwards, but still underneath a lot of menus and toolbars that drove me to buy a bigger monitor.

Google Chrome: A Browser Without Menus

What this means for me is that I can write this article in Google Docs (or Zoho Docs, for the non-partisan) with as much writing room as possible, before posting it into our blog CMS. This is a major plus for me. I use Google Docs to keep track of stuff between my day gig and my home life. I use Docs to record notes, and Spreadsheets to track my cash expenses. All this information is available to me from any computer connected to the Internet. Some may argue that using the free versions make my information less secure “in the cloud”, but as my information isn’t CIA-level top secret I feel pretty safe.

Of course, I do copy my data from Google’s servers into other formats, and store some of the information on my own hard disks. Adam Pash wrote an article about backing up your data from Google’s servers on Lifehacker.com, the core focus of the article isn’t that Google is evil, but that redundancy is always the best option. I’ve heard it said that digital data doesn’t really exist unless it exists in at least two places.

No More Hurry Up and Wait

Google Chrome takes the browsing experience to new heights, in both web-standards–compliance and rendering speed. Based on a recommendation from the Android team the developers chose Webkit, the same w3c-fascistic rendering engine used by Apple’s Safari browser. I say, “fascistic”, because I’m still hurting from the experience of Safari breaking one of my web projects. Eventually I’ll come to grips with the understanding that this will teach me to write more standards-compliant code.

I see a noticeable speed improvement when viewing pages through this browser. The speed also improves my experience using browser-based applications. I read that Google uses techniques like DNS-pre-fetching and caching, and separate virtual machines (V8) that operate separately within each tab, but all this means to me is that web pages load more quickly and applications operate invisibly. Period.

For people on the go, on the road, and rarely sitting still, the idea of always-on access to Internet applications and data is a big plus. When the browser steps out of the way, it makes even remote collaboraton easier.

The End of the Hourglass

Have you ever been surfing the web with a handful of tabs or a couple of windows open, when suddenly one page hung on the hourglass and your system froze in the process? Then, when you killed the offending tab or window, the entire application shut down, and you were forced to start your browsing experience afresh. Most web browsers run as a single application even when multiple tabs and windows are open. Hang one, you hang ‘em all.

Google Chrome ends the hourglass behavior by keeping applications in separate tabs and windows separate from each other. This way, when an application in one tab hangs, closing that tab shuts down only that application. All the other tabs are left intact. Plus, applications cannot read information between tabs, so your information is more secure than in other web browsers.

The best part of the hype surrounding the browser’s launch was the 38-page comic book by Scott McCloud (aptly chosen, considering the benefits of Google Chrome to cloud computing technology). Page 14 explains in a more technical manner why V8 technology runs JavaScript faster than other browsers.

Google Chrome V8 Technology Processes JavaScript Intelligently

Looking Forward

I don’t think an application exists that doesn’t have faults. Google Chrome is no exception, though its faults are miniscule in comparison to other *cough* commercial applications.

First, Chrome is in perpetual beta. This frees the developers to continue to make tweaks and improvements with no timed release schedule. This also helps Google answer any complaints with, “This is only a beta, so some features are still being worked out.”

Second, at the time of this writing, Chrome can’t access any trusted sites that require a password. I downloaded the browser for the first time at work, and tried to test how well it let me edit the wiki on our corporate Intranet. The program couldn’t save my credentials, and our network locked my account after the fifth failed login attempt.

Finally, Chrome is open source, which really isn’t a fault at all. By licensing the source code for external developers to work with, Google opens the door for improvements and feature adds from the developer community outside Google. I’m sure this will prove to be a big win in the long run.

Links to Google Chrome Stuff

• Direct download to the Google Chrome installer (inactive—Google forces you to download from their Chrome home page).
• Google Chrome home page
• Detailed information about Google Chrome

The first computers took up the space of a three-car garage. It’s amazing to think that all the computing power of those vacuum tube behemoths can now fit on a silicon chip the size of your fingernail, with processing room besides. However, even with all these advances in technology, we find it’s still not enough.

As a multimedia guy, I recognize two governing laws of data:

• The availability of our resources dictates our current needs.
• Our needs always expand beyond the capacity of our resources.

It is because of these two laws that more businesses are drawn to the facilities that cloud computing has to offer.

Before they reach this decision, they usually first follow a process similar to this:

• Build a bigger system.
• Compress the bigger system into a smaller space.
• Connect systems together to share resources.

My Dad is Bigger than Your Dad

Our first inclination is to put more stuff into the existing box. Where previously we would add more vacuum tubes to give our computers the ability to calculate floating point numbers, nowadays we install faster processors (or multiprocessors), larger hard drives, and more powerful graphics cards with higher video display RAM. The more technically inclined may even tweak the hardware to improve the speed of the data path between each of these components as well.

These bigger systems initially appear to provide all the computing power we need. We are able to run virtually any application, and store all of our data, on a single machine. Before long before we begin to realize new problems:

• These devices are finite. Disk space is a concrete measurement, and fairly soon we are horrified to learn we can’t store the digital photos of little Mischa’s tenth birthday party because our hard drives are already maxed out.
• These devices are insecure. Because all the applications and data reside on the same machine, that information is not safe in the event that computer is stolen, or worse, destroyed during a disaster.

Mainframe Computing

What if we were to instead invest in a mainframe computer—a really large computer that can hold our vast quantities of information? Then all our data would be in a centralized location safely protected from the elements. Also, theft of mainframe computers is really not an issue: I doubt very much that even a useful part of one would fit inside a hockey bag.

In a mainframe environment, to use any of our applications, all we’d need to do is connect a dumb terminal to this mainframe. Without any processing ability of its own, the terminal provides all the power of the mainframe at our disposal. Connect several hundred dumb terminals to the same mainframe and we can run an organization called IBM.

Reality Bites

While the processing power of mainframe computers is high, the upfront cost to install a mainframe environment is also high, and prohibitive to the average user. But what if we take our powerful desktop computers and connected them all together? For small- to medium-size enterprises, network computing is a lower-cost alternative to investing in a mainframe.

Most local area networks are set up as one or a combination of two ways:

• Peer-to-Peer: Applications and data are stored on individual computers. Users run applications on their own computers and can allow other users to work with their files from across the wire.
• Network Server: Applications and data are stored on a central computer or group of computers. Users can run applications installed on their local computer or on the network server. While users are encouraged to store their data on the central server, there is usually nothing to prevent a user from storing files locally as well.

In a networked environment, the security of the data is still at risk, because unlike mainframe components, a network server, usually the size of a standard desktop computer, can fit into a hockey bag. Also, even though a network setup can cost less than a mainframe, to properly configure it and continue to secure it requires a full-time IT specialist, which adds additional overhead. And once again, space is finite. An organization could easily outgrow even the highest capacity hard drive on their network server.

Head in the Cloud Computing

Through cloud computing, you can have all the power of several mainframe computers, the interconnectivity of a network system, the security of all your data being backed up on a regular basis, and the expertise of several IT specialists, all with a cost equivalent to buying lunch for your staff once a week. With faster Internet connection speeds becoming the norm, many users are already experiencing the benefits of cloud computing and not even realizing it.

Cloud computing is described on Wikipedia as, “…a style of computing where IT-related capabilities are provided ‘as a service’, allowing users to access technology-enabled services ‘in the cloud’ without knowledge of, expertise with, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them.”

If a computer network provides the combination of computing power, storage capacity, user availability, and security that we want, cloud computing is a really large network, with all those features on steroids. Applications and data can be stored on any computer on this network, and while these computers may vary in size, several of them have the processing capability of mainframe computer systems.

We haven’t quite returned to the days of dumb terminals, however. Instead, we use the features of a standard web browser to access Rich Internet Applications (RIA) that simulate the smooth look and feel of a desktop application.

Soft Serve, Not the Ice Cream Kind

Cloud computing provides tangible benefits, available to users on request. Providing these features “as a service” means that the resources can be shared between several users without any noticeable decrease in performance.

Software as a Service (SaaS) reduces the need to install and upgrade software on users’ desktops. The user always opens the most up-to-date copy of the software, because it is maintained at all times. Google Apps and Zoho are examples of companies providing common application software. Both systems even provide an offline mode for times when users aren’t connected to the Internet. Their files are uploaded as soon as their computers are reconnected.

Hardware as a Service (HaaS) provides users with additional computing power, whenever they require it. For instance, if a retailer has a short-term need to process a high volume of point-of-sale (POS) transactions on Boxing Day, applications can be set up to share the processing across additional computers as necessary.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is another growing enterprise. These shared hosting systems provide a development environment for developers to build their own applications using prebuilt modules or custom code.

Accessibility, availability, scalability: The salient features of cloud computing. But when you boil it down to brass tacks, cloud computing is just a new take on an old idea. I didn’t even get to discuss virtualization, which is what gives all these “as a service” features their power. Because of virtualization, while the two governing laws of data still apply, it will take a LONG time for our needs to “expand beyond the capacity of our resources.”

Read, Watch, and Learn

• Wikipedia entry on cloud computing
• Explaining Computers on Cloud Computing
• Various thought leaders discuss What is Cloud Computing?