Reminder: you want to work like a semi-priority queue, not like a stack.
Coffee as a service.
A rough comparison:
- “No cloud”: I roast and grind my own coffee beans for use in my own coffee maker.
- “Renting servers”: I have a bean-to-cup coffee machine, and I can buy beans anywhere.
- “Renting capacity”: I use regular (DE, store-brand) pre-ground coffee in my simple, affordable coffee maker (many brands available).
- “Limited in the cloud”: I use any brand of instant coffee (Nescafé, store-brand) and don’t need a coffee maker at all.
- “Fully in the arms of the cloud”: I have a Nespresso machine that only works with Nespresso pods.
- “Coffee as a service”: I go to Starbucks, where I can order a variety of coffees. I don’t own a coffee maker, I don’t need to understand how it works, and I don’t need to keep any coffee supplies at home.
The last option is expensive but effortless.
Bert Hubert: The (European) cloud ladder: from virtual server to MS 365
Someone else’s hard disk.
Putting our sensitive data on someone else’s hard disk, under foreign jurisdiction, via vulnerable connections, was never an enticing proposition. While many Radboud colleagues opposed the move to Office 365 several years ago, recent geopolitical developments make it clear just how dangerous the current situation is, whereby we are at the mercy of a foreign government led by a whimsical leader, who can force a company like Microsoft to comply with executive orders, or fulfil governmental access requests to data.
And why are we doing this? Convenience.
But it really is over. Stop the nonsense of complicated and long-winded legal arguments about why it would be legal to put our citizens’ data in the US. These arguments are not only naïve—they are also no longer true.
Bert Hubert: It is no longer safe to move our governments and societies to US clouds (2025-02-23)
Targets for personalized journal subscriptions.
Dressed in graduation gowns, academic regalia, tuxedos, and formal wear, they embody a sense of disciplined conformity. Their hobbies include academic research, scholarly writing, and intellectual debates, but also excessive gaming, ignoring personal hygiene, and social isolation.