Amazon cloud failed the other day... So what?

Yep, the Amazon cloud can fail. And, by the way, in case you didn't notice, planes can crash, nuclear plants can have accidents and, in general, there's no way to have 100% security or it's simply just too expensive.
Does it mean that you'll never take another flight or that we have to stop all the nuclear plants? No it only means that you need to understand the reality of life: shit happens!

The royal family never flight all together in the same flight, it's their way to manage the risk of flying. You need to decide how you are going to manage the risk of cloud adoption, as any other thing that you do.

And managing risk is one of those things that they pay us for, isn't it? So go, manage your risk in the new environment as you were doing in the previous one. And don't think that cloud was a fad or that is going to disappear. It's here to stay as a much more effective model than previous ones for a lot of business cases.

You can see the same point well articulated in this article. Just read the SLA and understand what you're signing for. It's interesting to see that Amazon didn't fail to comply with the SLA at all along the crisis. Likely the customers will ask to see those other services that are not exactly EC2, but that are becoming critical, in the SLA in the future. So it’s a good learning for everybody.

Have you heard those voices saying: we already beware you about cloud computing! We were right, now that Amazon is down you see it. I cannot believe how somebody that pretend to be intelligent can do such a simplistic analysis.

And Amazon cloud will fail again, I bet for it. And SalesForce.com, and Azure and all the others either have failed before or will fail in the future. Again and again. Shit happens.

To be or not to be cloud

I gave a speech about the use of cloud computing in Lilly on the 22nd of April as part of a bigger event organized by CIONet. This is a reference to that speech.
It's in Spanish but all of you know how to use the Google language tools, right?

Amazing Amazon

I'm very interested in the Kindle since it first appearance for several reasons. First: I buy a lot of books, most of them from Amazon. Second: You can carry a lot of books with you with less weight than just two of them. Third: Is a new gadget, do you really need any other reason?

I was then very disappointed when I learnt it was only available in US. Now you can choose between the small and the new big one. I was able to play a little bit a big one (called DX) some weeks ago in US and I'm quite impressed, the weight is reasonable, the quality of the screen is very good and the selection of titles available more than enough for one life.

Good news: now the Kindle is available outside of US with free 3G connection, but so far it's only the small one, although the price is more than reasonable: 259$

I was reviewing again the options when I've seen the Kindle for PC link. It's an interesting application that you can install in your PC to see the same books that you buy for the Kindle. Well, that makes sense, so far nothing special.

But suddenly, an idea: can I buy books for the Kindle although I (still) don't have one and read them in the PC? And can I buy at Amazon.com?

I usually buy at Amazon.co.uk to receive the books in Spain because from UK I don't have to pay customs and the final price is similar to US, but if I can buy a book in Amazon.com, paying in dollars (with the very nice exchange rate that we have these days) and without customs and delivery expenses suddenly this looks like the best deal. And I can!!

I already have my first book in my Kindle for PC, 5 euros + transportation (another 6 or so) cheaper than from UK in just one book.

Next step: de-activate the one-click shopping or I'll block my credit card.

Bye, bye traditional shop

I would like to share an experience that I had recently.
As you can imagine I'm a heavy Internet shopper, not only in "traditional" Internet shops like Amazon but also in eBay, where the final shop perhaps it's not so clearly identified. So far I've bought in Internet a flat TV screen, an SLR digital camera, a quite special lens for that camera, a freezer, several computers, my watch (the current one and the previous one), books, lots of books, cooking devices, knives, shoes (I can not resist the on-line outlets), clothing, flight tickets, hotel reservations, rented cars, golf clubs (replicas and originals) and balls... You get the idea. If it can be done in Internet I always prefer that.
I think I've reached a quite high level of virtuosity in on-line shopping. As an example I bought a watch for a friend in Amazon while I was in Indianapolis and I received it in my hotel, avoiding the customs taxes (well, in fact Amazon.com do not send electronics to Europe, so even if you are willing to pay you can not buy). So I do Internet shopping even at hotels!
For four years I did my food shopping by Internet. Now they don't distribute to my current home :(
Well, now I would like to start playing the guitar a little bit so there I was in Internet looking for information, on-line stores, etc. Several colleagues at work play the guitar seriously and they provided me with some very good links: Thomann, Music Store, Musik Produktiv, ... I don't know the reason, but most of them are in Germany.
Together with this they also recommended a very good shop in Madrid: Arde Madrid. They told me they have good prices and sometimes, with the transport cost and so on the price can be the same as in Internet, with the added benefit of being able to talk with an expert and hear the guitar and the amplifier.
So after spending some time in the webs and the forums (like Ultimate Guitar, with a reviews section) I mainly identified my new guitar. Then I called the shop, because they say they can also sell by internet but you should call if you have any doubt or, even better, go to the shop. So I called... several times... an nobody answered. This, in Spain, usually means that the shop is closed because they are on holidays. Well, I was not going to wait so I gave a last opportunity and went to the shop, just in case. It took me some time to find a parking place (in August! It has to be a nightmare any other month), but finally I was lucky and there I was parking just in front of the shop. And they were open! Well, in fact they were just starting to close, it was five to eight and they close at eight. So I was only able to have a very quick chat, a view of possible starting options and prices. I'm not trying to say they were rude, not at all, but clearly they wanted to close and not to spend the time with the stupid guy that just arrives three minutes before they go home. Probably the best part is that when I was leaving they told me to come back and have a try to some of the options: good try, but too late!

So, let me do a quick comparison of traditional and on-line shops to see what looks like a better option:

On-Line Shop	Traditional Shop
Open 24 hours	Open just at certain hours
Huge selection of brand and prices	Limited selection of prices and brands
Buying guides that help you with the process and the selection of the right product. Probably not as good as a professional clerk, but a reasonable replacement	Expertise of the clerks
Cheap	Expensive
No transport cost beyond a given amount	No transport cost
You can hear the samples for every product in different styles	You can hear the real instrument and play it
Ratings available based on peoples feedback either in the web or in forums	Only the opinion of the clerk available
Accessible from any computer	You have to go there... and park
Telephone support in Spanish	Support hot line?

So, even a specialized shop, one of the best ones in a country, has a difficult time competing with a sophisticated Internet shop. Only if they are ready to spend a lot of time with you and provide you with an experience that is not possible (at the same level of quality) in Internet they have a chance. And most probably in that case you'll end up buying in Internet after making up your mind in the physical shop because of the price.
At least, so far, they have a future as a repair shop, but I'm not sure how frequently something like a guitar needs repairs.

Most of the traditional shops are already dead, perhaps they still do not know it, but they are.

Even for clothing. You can ask my wife, that is an expert in on-line outlets. Her view: when the price is sooo cheap (cheaper than the gas spend on going down to central Madrid), if it doesn't fit you well you already have a Christmas gift for somebody.

The Kindle in your i-Phone

Through this Enrique Dans' post I've come to this post where they talk about the new i-Phone application to replicate Kindle functionality.

As you can imagine I jumped into i-Tunes store to download it and... Shit! is not available in the spanish store... I'm now investigating how I connect to other stores :-(

Try this link to access the app from iTunes: http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=8fq8akZie*M&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewSoftware%253Fid%253D302584613%2526mt%253D8%2526partnerId%253D30