Network World, R Dvorak, Tom Henderson

Desktop-as-a-Service is an interesting way for IT execs to provide cloud-based Windows desktop sessions, as well as shared resources such as storage. DaaS can help companies roll out new desktops and support Bring Your Own Device policies.

DaaS or Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD) providers offer a pristine, policy-controlled session (either persistent or ad hoc) that can be accessed by a wide variety of devices. If you have an iPad3 and a Bluetooth keyboard, you're in. Mac? You're in. An old and wheezing Windows XP patched-to-death machine? You're in. The machine used to access a DaaS session is largely irrelevant to the session's use, which can be for standard "office" functions, or as part of an application-specific setup.

I sat recently at the Grand Opening Ceremony at CeBIT 2012 in Hannover. There was a huge crowd of dignitaries, business people, and captains of German industry. They were waiting to hear from the President of Brazil, the Chancellor of Germany, and the Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt. Each gave a keynote. As the event's them was Managing Trust, it seemed salient for me to listen specifically to Schmidt, perhaps one last time. It's not that I don't respect the German Chancellor or the President of Brazil, but I wasn't trying to divorce myself from the organizations they represent.

You see, I'm leaving Google, in toto -- meaning in every single possible personal way. What you're reading is the first seven days in the attempt, which is ongoing.

In testing cloud computing services and observing the growth of cloud activities, we've noticed that there are distinct phases that organizations go through in adopting cloud.

First, application developers fall in love with cloud-based disposable infrastructure and/or ready-built app development platforms that circumvent long purchasing cycles and capital asset growth limitations. Then other attractions, like commodity rentable infrastructure, or expansive platforms, become attractive. Sometimes applications are either extended to the cloud as private growth areas, or moved totally off premises.

Windows Server 8 is categorically different than its predecessor versions. There’s an argument to say that it’s not actually Windows. It's pre-beta, and it's an enormous statement covering many positions on the chess board. Windows 8 Server editions are preferred to be run, according to Microsoft spokesperson last week, in Server Core format, although Windows GUI will be available if desired. Headless operation can also be used. It's just not Windows by default anymore, but instead, a "cloud operating system" specifically poised towards competing with VMware.

[TECHNICAL DETAILS: Windows Server 8: To the Cloud!]

The “megabytes per second” metric that is the crux of what we purchase “our Internet” for, is rapidly becoming a meaningless number. The Internet carries a number of native protocols, TCP and UDP. One has guaranteed delivery, and the other doesn’t. We start from there, and neither was developed with much timed media in mind. Video and other isochronous media on the Internet was an afterthought, but we’re paying for it using the old context of bytes delivered per second. Instead, we need either a replacement measurement context, or a way to qualify delivery for comparison's sake.

Textual data shows up when you ask for it, especially in a browser. Boom, it’s kind of there after you ask for it. Text-based web pages, or those with small still pictures on them can load reasonably fast, even at dial-up speeds. Video doesn’t work that way. Video lives in something called a time domain, and must be delivered in such a way that it’s not interrupted -- otherwise we complain. Sheer megabytes/sec is meaningful only when you’re downloading a video for later viewing—and temporarily owning or renting a video is problematic for most content licensors. Realtime video needs a mostly uninterrupted path to the machine where it’ll be viewed. Video is isochronous data and you can interrupt it in only a few ways -- briefly at that -- or its display becomes objectionable.

Cloud management tools are as varied as cloud uses. For this test, we chose five tools that each attack cloud management from a different perspective.

We looked at Symplifed for identity management exclusively targeted to SaaS-based apps, Puppet Labs for virtual machine deployment, HP for building and managing private clouds, Abiquo for IaaS platform management and TurnKey Linux for low-cost cloud backup.

Botnets and botnet kits are flourishing. They're now a commodity, as are the use of controlled machines. Just about daily, a new and frightening major system crack is revealed, data released, embarrassed IT security people called on the carpet. Were these a human virus, the CDC would be subjecting it to observation, protocols, all while someone was racing to invent (perhaps too many) vaccinations for the world to use. It would be an effort that had procedure, and a plan. The U.S. lacks a cohesive national plan to control malware, and the costs of exposure might be calculable to motivate organization of an authority to deal with the problem.

The "free market" of protection surrounds the operating system vendors, third-party virus malware eradication and protection vendors like Kaspersky, Symantec, McAfee (and many others), and a fleet of integrators and consultants. While these organizations provide control to prevent and mitigate, they aren't financially compelled to stop the problem before it starts. There is no motivation for an ounce of prevention that prevents the hideous pounds and costs of cure.

Apple, AT&T, Microsoft, Google and others are givens for being among the top newsmakers of 2011. Others will no doubt surprise us as we go along.

While it's so much easier to look back at the end of the year and reflect on the newsworthiness of a technology industry event than to do so as the event is happening, Network World this year is daring to make our picks for the top technology stories of the year as we go along. We'll update this article regularly -- as news dictates.

U.S. Federal Judge Harold Greene broke up AT&T in an antitrust suit that started in 1949. Now, after the acquisition of T-Mobile, AT&T&T will dominate again.

Why care? Wasn't old Ma Bell reliable and lead the world in telephony development?

The netbook has been murdered. The concept of an inexpensive computing device with high value for the third world has been sufficiently co-opted so as to make the category meaningless. Some called netbooks a sub-category of "ultra-light" or "sub-notebooks", but netbooks became legitimized by the announcement of the $100 OLPC laptop.

Lots of people wanted to see the original concept of a $100 laptop work. However, hardware and operating systems vendors saw no financial opportunity in that concept. Therefore, netbooks died the death of a thousand cuts, and netbooks as a conceptual computing category have been nearly wiped out. The netbook made the industry take a serious look at value. What has transpired reflects that. We have more lightweight computing platform choices than ever before. The netbook's brief success was also its swan song.