Microsoft's Ooxml and Google's "cloud computing"

This year, April 2, the Microsoft-led Ooxml document standard became the "ISO Standard" (hereafter officially called "Open XML"). April 8, Google launched the "cloud computing" of the "Application Engine" ("App Engine"). This is a major milestone event of two milestones.

About Ooxml's story, there are now two "editions": First, Microsoft continues to dominate the global (monopolistic market) case, and second, Microsoft to open performance. These two stories have not finished yet, and many people like to listen. Google's "Application Engine", foggy, relatively fresh, today want to talk about.

Over the years, people have always liked to do "apps" on a computer and developed a lot of "gadgets". Since the first half of 2001 Microsoft launched. NET plan, the global network services (so-called "Web Services"), followed by the upsurge. I remember at that time (about 2002 years), in our country, someone began to think of the ASP ("Application Service provider", that is, "Web services") model into our country's "E-government demonstration project." In early 2003, I went to Fujian to set up "open source shares", I want to build on the Linux Platform for ASP (using Java programming). By the beginning of 2005, we started to promote lamp applications based on the Ubuntu (5.04 version) (where the letter P represents PHP, the Python programming language), which is actually about "lamp hosting services" (using "Mambo hosting"), on a single server, Run many lamp applications, while serving a group of similar small and medium-sized enterprises. At that time, we were dimly aware of the vague concept of the "cloud Computing" ("Cloud Computing"), but since there was no such precise "scientific term" (concept), the idea was not brought up. By the year 2006, when I returned to Beijing, I noticed that Google was developing "Bigtable" (the so-called "Big Watch"), although it felt that there was "something new" in it, but I didn't know what it was, so I didn't follow it. Until Google publicized the "Application Engine" (the time is not short), and again arouse our attention (or interest).

For years I have had a (personal) wish (or wish) to see the "big picture" of hundreds of or thousands of servers working together. There, each server's "Ram" is connected with a fast optical fiber, thousands server together "power on", in each server operating system on the support of a large "electronic cloud" (in a large area of "memory"), fast flashing, erratic, which is called "Cloud computing" (Note: "Clouds", there are " The mood of the sky, "cloud computing", there is "immersive" feeling. It is said that Google used 8 programming experts, 2.5 of the time to tinker with this marvelous "Bigtable" ("Big Table") "realized". This "electronic cloud" (in fact, "large table computing", or "cloud computing" infrastructure), on each operating system, is not related to the physical server (for example, suddenly a server is broken, or "hot plug" a server, it does not matter). In which a lot of "sandbox" ("Sandbox", its specific shape is difficult to imagine), each "sandbox" inside run a "customer application." These "sandbox" between each other, there must be no random leakage of "digital signal" of the possibility, unless the intention to arrange.

Google's "electronic Cloud" (made up of thousands of servers, unlike server farms) can serve tens of thousands of customers (small and medium enterprises), and they can be used "free" or "very little". Google's earnings, of course, are "old" (by advertising revenue). This "electronic cloud", like a huge operating system, is safe, reliable, resource-saving and highly efficient, supporting a variety of customer applications. In the future, around Google ("electronic cloud"), there will be a new generation of "software enterprises" dedicated to other enterprise users (using a specific software development package) for "electronic cloud" of "Web Application", put into the "sandbox" inside the operation, forming a novel industrial chain. The service-oriented software industry is about to emerge. (Note: "Sandbox" specific performance indicators and limitations, here is not to elaborate. ）

At present, "electronic cloud" technology only Google, IBM and Yahoo Master. No wonder Microsoft is eager to "merge" Yahoo, Microsoft is not looking at Yahoo's lamp structure, but its "cloud computing" technology (and related talent).

      (Note: Google's application engine currently supports only the Python (interpreted) programming language.) Today, I went to the Xidan book building and found out there was a Python book for sale. Hope programmers friends attention, the moment "ready" for a better tomorrow. )