Personal Cloud Computing + Netbooks = Mobile Supercomputing?

logo_awsI’ve been following Dave Winer’s trials and tribulations with Amazon’s EC2 of late and I think I just had an epiphany. Either that or I just spilled coffee on my lap, an unfortunate but common occurrence these days. Here’s the skinny on what Dave is doing, followed by my wild and crazy thoughts of a not-too-distant-future.

Essentially, Dave has documented the steps on how to create a virtual server in the cloud using Amazon’s EC2 service. He says you can do it in under an hour, but I suspect that’s a worst-case solution. I walked through the steps in around half that time, and it’s fairly straightforward to me. I followed the yellow-brick road that Dave has laid out and now have a Windows server running in the clouds of Oz. Note that I could have used Linux in lieu of Windows as well. Here I’m using Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection app to see the server from my MacBook:

ec2

Bear in mind that you’ll pay between 10 and 80 cents per hour of server time for the virtual server and a small amount for data transfer, but the server doesn’t have to run 7x24x365. You have total control on when your server is up and running (and costing you money) or not. And you can install software on your server as needed.

So once you have your server in the clouds, what can you do? Here’s where it gets interesting, because I think the possibilities are practicaly limitless. As an example, let’s talk about something I do on a regular basis: encode high-definition video. Currently, I have two choices of where to do this: on a netbook or on my Apple MacBook. My netbook isn’t nearly as equipped to handle this as my MacBook, so when I’m out with my netbook, I generally wait until I get home to encode video. I might shoot high-def while out, but I’m limited in terms of producing and delivering that content until I get home. My netbook simply doesn’t have the horsepower to complete the task in a timely and efficient way. But it does have connectivity.

What if I used that connectivity and my own personal “cloud computer” at Amazon to do the heavy lifting for this task? Sure, I know HD content files are large and unwieldy. I’ll grant you that, but bear with me because mobile broadband is getting faster in the long term, not slower. WiFi is also readily available and fast enough for this task. Let’s think ahead here, and not be restricted by today’s constraints.

In a current or future situation like I’ve outlined, my netbook doesn’t need to be a powerhouse. Yet, when paired with a server in the cloud, it becomes a powerful tool, no? Maybe HD video isn’t the best example, but I think you get the idea. In fact, the concept aligns nicely with one that I’ve posed to Om, called “personal clouds.” In that vision of the future, I see applications and services that I use running at my home or on a hosted cloud: I simply connect my mobile device to the service. Think of it like a “Google Apps for Home,” where I have total control over the service and the data. Instead of finding various web services for what I want to do, I can set up my own personalized services.

In a way, I could accomplish all of this today by running a server with remote access out of my house, but most folks can’t or won’t do that. If Amazon (or anyone else for that matter) makes this easy and cost-effective, I foresee this as a much better option. Based on Dave’s instructions, I think that anyone who has a general familiarity with computers and the web can start to do this now.

Enough of my thoughts; what do you think? Try not to consider this in today’s terms but instead think a year or two out. What are the possibilities, pitfalls and potentials? Imagine if Amazon started bundling EC2 services with low-powered, low-cost netbooks. Hmmm…mature, personalized cloud services paired with a browsing device, an all-day battery and connectivity sounds quite appealing to me.

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