If you’ve been in IT long enough, you’ve probably heard someone observe that, for as long as there have been computers, there has been a long, slow pendulum swing between centralized and distributed computing paradigms. From mainframes, to remote terminals, to timesharing, to PCs, to client/server, to mobile devices, to cloud computing — the pendulum has been easy to discern, though much harder to explain. In the midst of the constant change that is the IT industry, the idea of a stable, long-term cycle between centralization and decentralization is truly appealing.
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Is the IT Pendulum Winding Down?
Posted by: Nathaniel Borenstein July 28, 2010 07:00 AMIf you’ve been in IT long enough, you’ve probably heard someone observe that, for as long as there have been computers, there has been a long, slow pendulum swing between centralized and distributed computing paradigms. From mainframes, to remote terminals, to timesharing, to PCs, to client/server, to mobile devices, to cloud computing — the pendulum has been easy to discern, though much harder to explain. In the midst of the constant change that is the IT industry, the idea of a stable, long-term cycle between centralization and decentralization is truly appealing.