“At least half of the calls I take are clients that are either actively planning or are already actively deploying a multi-provider strategy,” said Mindy Cancila, an analyst with Gartner, Inc. based in Stamford, Conn. “I believe most organizations are going to end up with more than one public cloud provider, whether they realize it yet or not.”
Two side-notes:
Man, I hope we all start saying “multi-cloud” instead of hybrid cloud.
Posts in "tech"
Docker: IaaS or PaaS? Reflections on DockerCon EU (451 Research)
As mentioned in my newsletter recently, I typed up a think piece on Docker (the company and the emerging ecosystem after it’s EU conference earlier this month. 451 clients can read it behind the paywall, but here’s the 451 Take:
The ecosystem around the Docker container technology is in the process of figuring out Docker’s identity while at the same time contending with a sudden rise in popularity. Although early attention on Docker paired it up against the likes of VMware at, let’s say, the IaaS level, as we investigate further, Docker looks like more of a PaaS innovator.
"Hybrid cloud ROI isn’t there, and the complexity is huge."
From Steven Sinofsky:
As an enterprise, the pragmatic thing to do is go public cloud and operate existing infrastructure as legacy, without trying to sprinkle cloud on it or spend energy trying to deeply integrate with a cloud solution. The transition to client-server, GUI or Web all provide ample evidence in failed bridge solutions, a long tail of “wish we hadn’t done that” and few successes worth the effort. As a startup, it will be tempting to work to land customers who will pay you to be a bridge, but that will only serve to keep you behind your competitors who are skipping a hybrid solution.
Generally speaking, there are only a few ways to make money on the Internet. There are e-commerce companies and marketplaces - think Amazon, eBay and Uber - that profit from transactions occurring on their platforms. Hardware companies, like Apple or Fitbit, profit from gadgets. For everyone else, though, it more or less comes down to advertising. Social-media companies, like Facebook or Twitter, may make cool products that connect their users, but they earn revenue by selling ads against the content those users create. Innovative media companies, like Vox or Hulu, make money in much the same way, except that they’re selling ads against content created by professionals. Google, which has basically devoured the search business, still makes a vast majority of its fortune by selling ads against our queries.
NICHOLAS CARLSON, “What Happened When Marissa Mayer Tried to Be Steve Jobs.”
Coté Memo #059: Containers make butter-scotch pudding delicious and floors shine
Tech & Work World Floor wax, dessert topping As I mention below, I’ve had more time to write reports recently. I just submitted one titled “Docker: floor-wax or dessert topping? Reflections on DockerCon EU”. It’s one of our “spotlight” pieces, which means it’s an open-ended think-piece rather than a write-up of a briefing.
Here’s some excerpts:
451 Take: The container technology Docker and the ecosystem around it is figuring out its identity while at the same time contending with a sudden rise in popularity.
StackStorm automates and monitors a core DevOps asset: the software delivery pipeline - 451 Report
I’ve been speaking with StackStorm on and off for a few months now. I finally got around to writing up a report on them, available for clients.
Here’s the 451 Take:
StackStorm fancies itself an automation company, and with experience from Opalis Software, it’s little wonder. What’s interesting about its approach is that it’s automating the DevOps pipeline, including the continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) process. This may seem like a minor concern, namely, working on developer tools.
Unlike Office Online and Google Docs, the Dropbox badge doesn’t support real-time editing. That means if you edit a document while someone else is working on it, you’ll still be able to save it locally, but you’ll have to manually figure how you want to merge in your changes.
Everything sounded awesome until I got to that part…
Coté Memo #058: Cloud ads, amateur coffee drinkers, orchiwhu?
Follow-up Confirmed: ActiveState is far from dead ;)
One of you notified me that maybe coffee isn’t so bad for your health - really, who knows. I hear eating a lot of bread was once a thing too. From the article:
Why the apparent reversal in the thinking about coffee? Earlier studies didn’t always take into account that known high-risk behaviors, such as smoking and physical inactivity, tended to be more common among heavy coffee drinkers at that time.
Who's in the CI/CD space, and what is it?
I’m starting to put together some research into CI/CD. That might even be the wrong name: I’m more interested in starting to catalog different parts (and vendors/projects) in The DevOps Pipeline. Looking at Jenkins and crew seems like a good start.
Inspired by @krishnan’s ever excellent Docker ecosystem mind-map, I thought I’d start one for CI/CD. What would you add and correct about it?
http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/public_map_shell/487228559/ci-cd?width=600&height=400&z=0.4
There’s also an excellent DZone overview of the space (with a positive example of native advertising if you’re into over-thinking on that kind of thing), and I like this question from the most recent Eclipse Community survey (2014):
You want people to work as much as possible to push the product and company out of uncertain territory into profitability, right? Wrong. What you will do is push people to the edge of burnout and unhappiness. They’ll eventually leave your company.
From Open (Unlimited) to Minimum Vacation Policy
This is a management point I’ve been thinking about over the years: it turns out well rested employees are better long-term. I don’t think most (American) management believes that, at all.
The subtle point to make explicit here goes the other way: employees are work-gluttons if you let them be. They “over-eat” and can’t help themselves. Part of management’s job, then, is to help employees here.
Both management and employee are at fault, and there’s lots of work to be done.