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0 pointsP5fRxh5kUvp2th3y ago0 comments

what does the cloud have to do with the tools being old and creaky?

Is there some magic sauce that makes the search suddenly useful once it's sitting in AWS?

I ask because I see this ALL the time. technical people abusing business ignorance by using initiatives to improve tools to "move to the cloud". Unless you're telling me the problem you're solving has to do with elastic demand or too much costs maintaining infrastructure, this does NOTHING to solve the actual problem.

Do we imagine that suddenly this organization is going to start maintaining their stuff if it's sitting on AWS servers instead of their own?

0 comments

mring336213y ago

"move to the cloud" is a top strategic objective in my org

I have explained why it should not be, but Mgmt does not care.

Everyone's doing it. We NEED to do it.

I believe we are in a mix of FOMO, resume-driven development and empire-building.

Ok, I can tell that you want me to expand. Here goes:

Cloud may offer:

1) improved scalability (both horizontal and vertical)

2) improved availability

3) reduced cost

None of these are guaranteed and will require much expertise in both initial choice-making and continuing execution.

We don't really have that expertise.

Do you?

Sohcahtoa823y ago

> 3) reduced cost

From what I've always heard, of all the benefits the cloud has, reduced cost is not one of them unless your compute need is exceptionally small (ie, you only need a few t3.* instances).

nostrebored3y ago

That’s because nobody who cut costs feels compelled to go out and proselytize about it. At the start of the pandemic I helped dozens of customers cut their spending to $XX pm as they were inherently crippled during COVID (think travel, hospitality). My management team at AWS supported this effort. It was actually one of our strategic goals.

Anti cloud zealots are having their time just like pro cloud zealots did. You have to understand your workloads and cloud offerings to see if it’s right for you.

2 more replies

voakbasda3y ago

> None of these are guaranteed and will require much expertise in both initial choice-making and continuing execution.

I feel confident saying that the government does not have this expertise and never will, so this just seems like yet another taxpayer-funded boondoggle (aka, the status quo).

P5fRxh5kUvp2thOP3y ago

how does improved scalability, improved availability, and reduced cost help the patent examiners make more reliable decisions?

It doesn't, that's the point, you're adding to the same noise everyone else is.

mring336213y ago

You're right. It's just a random side convo that came out of the main thread.

geraldwhen3y ago

Reduced cost.

Yeah, we’ll see there. This is the federal government, not a startup.

greedo3y ago

Our company matches what you describe to a T. We have some small web servers/services, but none under any significant load. No need to scale dynamically, yet we use Docker (with Swarm) on prem for like 3 worker nodes. So much complexity added because of FOMO and resume-padding.

And then the key decision-maker says if we don't do cloud architected systems, we'll have trouble recruiting developers with suitable skills...

bombcar3y ago

The only benefit I've seen to "move to the cloud" without a full re-write is you can now double the performance of your cloud server without a full reinstall. Sometimes.

And end up with not much gain. :(

    You pack your bags And you move to the cloud
    There's somethin' missin' here at home

    When you, you gonna move to the cloud?
    Into the cloud where it all began

    I'm always buyin' With the local and the junkies
    This cloud life is one big pain!
    But you, you had to move to the cloud
    Into the cloud where it all began

pclmulqdq3y ago

"Move to the cloud" is usually an excuse for big organizations like the USPTO to modernize their technology and business processes. Business executives, for some reason, expect "cloud" to be more modern than "on-prem" so the modernization of your business processes and modernization of the feel of the UI goes along with a move to cloud.

It's really dumb.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

mring336213y ago

"move to the cloud" is a top strategic objective in my org

I have explained why it should not be, but Mgmt does not care.

Everyone's doing it. We NEED to do it.

I believe we are in a mix of FOMO, resume-driven development and empire-building.

Ok, I can tell that you want me to expand. Here goes:

Cloud may offer:

1) improved scalability (both horizontal and vertical)

2) improved availability

3) reduced cost

None of these are guaranteed and will require much expertise in both initial choice-making and continuing execution.

We don't really have that expertise.

Do you?

Sohcahtoa823y ago

> 3) reduced cost

From what I've always heard, of all the benefits the cloud has, reduced cost is not one of them unless your compute need is exceptionally small (ie, you only need a few t3.* instances).

nostrebored3y ago

Anti cloud zealots are having their time just like pro cloud zealots did. You have to understand your workloads and cloud offerings to see if it’s right for you.

2 more replies

voakbasda3y ago

> None of these are guaranteed and will require much expertise in both initial choice-making and continuing execution.

I feel confident saying that the government does not have this expertise and never will, so this just seems like yet another taxpayer-funded boondoggle (aka, the status quo).

P5fRxh5kUvp2thOP3y ago

how does improved scalability, improved availability, and reduced cost help the patent examiners make more reliable decisions?

It doesn't, that's the point, you're adding to the same noise everyone else is.

mring336213y ago

You're right. It's just a random side convo that came out of the main thread.

geraldwhen3y ago

Reduced cost.

Yeah, we’ll see there. This is the federal government, not a startup.

greedo3y ago

And then the key decision-maker says if we don't do cloud architected systems, we'll have trouble recruiting developers with suitable skills...

bombcar3y ago

The only benefit I've seen to "move to the cloud" without a full re-write is you can now double the performance of your cloud server without a full reinstall. Sometimes.

And end up with not much gain. :(

    You pack your bags And you move to the cloud
    There's somethin' missin' here at home

    When you, you gonna move to the cloud?
    Into the cloud where it all began

    I'm always buyin' With the local and the junkies
    This cloud life is one big pain!
    But you, you had to move to the cloud
    Into the cloud where it all began

pclmulqdq3y ago

It's really dumb.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse