Not a week goes by without some news story mentioning an outage for some high profile cloud-based service. It made me wonder why industry people, and now the major mainstream news media, are so focused on these outages. They seem to get the same level of attention as a utility blackout. There is apparently a widespread expectation that cloud services are held to a higher (loftier) level of availability than a data center securely planted on terra firma. Moreover, even general endusers are becoming more aware that even some “brand name” applications and services, such as Netflix, are actually hosted by cloud service providers, not their own dedicated data centers.
As each new technology emerges it has a development, learning, and maturity curve. Just as flying has become a safe commonplace service readily available to all, it took many years and many generations of development and operational experience to reach its present state. Ostensibly it all started in Kitty Hawk, NC, in 1903 with the “first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight” by the Wright brothers.