Ray Ozzie on cloud computing, and complexity

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20020559-17.html

""We're moving toward a world of 1) cloud-based continuous services that connect us all and do our bidding, and 2) appliance-like connected devices enabling us to interact with those cloud-based services," he writes. He continues:

At first blush, this world of continuous services and connected devices doesn't seem very different than today. But those who build, deploy and manage today's websites understand viscerally that fielding a truly continuous service is incredibly difficult and is only achieved by the most sophisticated high-scale consumer websites. And those who build and deploy application fabrics targeting connected devices understand how challenging it can be to simply & reliably just 'sync' or 'stream'. To achieve these seemingly simple objectives will require dramatic innovation in human interface, hardware, software and services.

Meanwhile, the PC-centric, client/server world has "accreted simply immense complexity over the past quarter century. To which he adds a warning: "Complexity kills. Complexity sucks the life out of users, developers and IT. Complexity makes products difficult to plan, build, test and use. Complexity introduces security challenges. Complexity causes administrator frustration." "

Me: "Complexity Kills." I'm going to write that on my whiteboard.