This analogy was supposed to parallel our current and future feelings regarding storing data in the cloud: today, we are too worried about security to do so; in the future, we won't give it a second thought.
The analogy is fallacious, and here's why: it deals with two different items of value. One is replaceable money, the other is irreplaceable data.
To lower the barrier to e-commerce, credit cards now protect their customers against losses from fraudulent Web sites. Let's see how this works: I make an online purchase at amazin.ch but never receive the item and then find someone else using my credit card.
The result: it costs me nothing! The credit card company covers my financial loss, sends me a replacement credit card with a new number, and I go right on shopping online.
Let's now apply the analogy to data: I store my project data online, and then it is lost. (Doesn't matter how.)
The result: it costs me everything! Dassault Systemes doesn't cover my financial loss (creating the data; loss of intellectual property), doesn't send me replacement data, and I go back to starting over from scratch.
Good points Ralph, I agree.
Devon Sowell
Posted by: Devon T. Sowell | Mar 02, 2010 at 06:51 AM
And how else can you look at this Ralph?
However, “starting over from scratch", in business, can only be considered as from behind with a considerable handicap. The exact reverse reason for using software in any form. Loss of CAD data can and does occur 'inside' business - that's manageable and, preferable. To enter into 'a partnership' with a third/fourth party (maybe more) without any sensible commitment from the others is simply stupid! That said, from what I have witnessed many in our industry are that stupid and will go the 'cloud' route with little more thought than they give licencing.
Posted by: R. Paul Waddington | Mar 02, 2010 at 02:19 PM
As I recall, the credit-card use comparison was made by SolidWorks cofounder John Hirschtick at SolidWorks World during a press conference. His point was that security breaches occur online as well as offline. I don't think he was suggesting that the loss of financial data (such as credit card info) is more devastating than the loss of intellectual property, which seems to be the theme of this discussion thread.
We should also keep in mind that providing cloud-computing solution doesn't necessarily mean providing online storage. These are two distinctly different types of services. Autodesk Butterfly, for example, is a hosted viewing and markup solution, not a remote data-storage solution. On the other hand, Arena Solutions lets you use its web-based bill of materials management applications as well as its storage space.
Cloud-hosted application providers should be held accountable for reliability (that is, system uptime and system performance). Cloud-hosed storage vendors should be held accountable for data security. We shouldn't mix up the two.
By the way, having worked in a bank in my previous life (or what seems like a previous life), I ought to warn you, you can eaisly recover a fraud charge of a small amount (usually, under $500), but if you're stuck with a large transaction, you'll have a much harder time recovering it from the card company.
And unauthorized chares are only a small concern when your credit card info is compromised. Somone could take out a loan or open a new credit card using the stolen identify, which the victim won't discover till years later. So I wouldn't characterize stolen financial data as "recoverable money."
Digital IP, on the other hand, IS replacaable if a business adheres to industry-standard IT practices (automatic routine backups, for example). Most online storage service providers have backup systems to help recover lost data.
It'll be more prudent to wait till SolidWorks offers concrete descriptions and details about its cloud-bases solution before we embrace it or dismiss it.
Posted by: Kenneth Wong | Mar 03, 2010 at 02:24 PM
We ran a SaaS service in Beta and then RC for two years and lost nothing. The fact is that doesn't matter. At any point the client can backup for themselves the data or the SaaS-in-the-Cloud service can 'park' the files anywhere the client likes when you are done with your SolidWorks in the Cloud session. I've heard many folks talk about the return of "Mainframes and Thin Clients". Nothing ever comes back exactly and this time its all about the flexibility of the cloud offers. If you want to pay someone (like Google Apps) to store and protect your CAD data because it makes better sense than the cost/risk of doing it yourself, then thats option1. If you want your CAD Cloud provider to access the data from a secret vault buried deep beneath the ground with just a single wire poking out of the ground, then you have control over the data and you'l have to pay someone for the data transfer back and forth. If you wanna split the middle save the data in your own storage onlive or Amazon S3 where it is professionally managed.
Posted by: Aftercad | Mar 06, 2010 at 11:36 AM