novelno Chapter 164 The Development of Cloud Computing
Chapter 164 The Development of Cloud Computing
Chapter 164 The Development of Cloud Computing
Who is John McCarthy?
For many people deeply involved in the computer field, this name is well-known.
He was Cassio Lake's mentor.
But he has another identity: the father of artificial intelligence.
When it comes to cloud computing, many people generally believe that Eric Schmidt was the first to propose this concept.
Some people believe it is Amazon.
Because when Eric Schmidt proposed the concept of cloud computing at the 2006 Search Engine Conference, Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud was launched at the same time.
To be more precise, neither Eric Schmidt nor Amazon invented cloud computing; it was John McCarthy.
After the world's first computer, ENIAC, and the world's second computer, Atanasoff Berry, were built and successfully operated, John McCarthy proposed a technological concept: that multiple people could use a single computer simultaneously. This was the earliest prototype of cloud computing.
In June 1959, British computer scientist Christopher Streich published an academic paper at the International Conference on Information Processing, also about time sharing in mainframes, entitled "Time Sharing in Large High-Speed Computers".
The concept of virtualization was first proposed in this paper.
Virtualization is also the cornerstone of cloud computing architecture.
"I read about the concept of public computing services that John McCarthy proposed at MIT’s centennial celebration in 1961, which is why I felt that distributed computing had great potential and decided to enter this field."
Cassio Lake had no idea that Ernst knew about distributed computing for this very reason.
"I've also seen it. Actually, the teacher's concept is very simple; it's based on the traditional power plant model. To put it bluntly, it treats computing resources as an energy resource like electricity. Users can use computing resources anytime, anywhere, just like plugging a light bulb into a socket, and pay according to usage."
"The principle is simple, but few people dare to forget this aspect."
Cassio's face showed a look of reminiscence. "Our teacher told us that everything in the world is interconnected, and great ideas have long been proven by our ancestors. It just depends on whether you dare to make bold assumptions in this direction."
"And it's not just about daring to think, but also about having people willing to invest. That was the best of times. Now..." Cassio Lake shook his head.
Ernst knew he was referring to the MAC Institute, where he had previously worked. Influenced by McCarthy's views, MIT and the Office of Information Processing Technology under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) immediately invested funds to launch the famous MAC project.
Because of this project, the team is also called the MAC Institute, and Cassio Lake is one of its members.
"It's a pity, if only there hadn't been so many arguments back then."
In 1964, The Atlantic published an article entitled "The Computer of Tomorrow," which analyzed in detail the similarities and differences between public computing services and the public power grid.
The article points out that for computing to become a public service like the power grid, three issues need to be addressed:
How do users connect to resources via the interface?
Service equipment: What equipment do users use to convert resources into services?
Products are homogeneous; electricity is just electricity, but computing is a complex service with diversity, involving different programming languages and hardware. How can they be compatible and interact?
Influenced by this report, the MAC project team began developing the Multics time-sharing multitasking operating system, and Bell Labs later joined the MAC software development.
However, due to the involvement of multiple parties at the time, the struggle for control over the R&D project became crucial, resulting in the slow progress of the MAC project.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, a hundred flowers were blooming.
In 1965, IBM developed the first virtual machine system in history.
In 1969, Bell Labs, unable to tolerate the slow progress of the Multics operating system, withdrew from the MAC project and began developing the Uni operating system.
In the same year, under the impetus of Joseph Licley, ARPANET, a computer network researched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), was born, which later became the Internet.
From then on, all three underlying technologies upon which cloud computing relies have emerged.
An operating system used to manage physical computing resources.
Virtualization technology used to distribute resources among multiple users simultaneously.
The Internet used for remote access.
Unfortunately, just when cloud computing was about to achieve great success, it was abandoned by everyone at the same time.
Beginning in the late 70s and early 80s, the computer market boomed, and all companies focused their main efforts on software.
Hardware and network.
Even now, with the rise of the Internet, I haven't paid attention to the cloud computing project.
IBM focused solely on hardware, while its virtualization system has long been relegated to some forgotten corner.
Bell Labs has become a discarded pawn, gradually losing its former glory in the tides of the market, and becoming unwanted and neglected.
The MAC Institute even abandoned this research, and many people left like Cassio Lake.
John McCarthy, who first proposed this idea, has also returned to MIT and is approaching retirement age.
This is why Ernst was confident he could secure the services of this influential figure; given his current honeymoon period with the Boston consortium, they couldn't possibly refuse such a small favor.
"So, would you like to join my team and continue your research in the field of distributed computing?" Ernst extended the invitation again.
Theo Lake fell silent. He first glanced at Ernst, his eyes filled with complex emotions—hesitation, doubt, and a hint of barely perceptible expectation—before lowering his head again and falling into deep thought.
After a long silence, he slowly spoke, "If you can get Professor John to extend an invitation to me, I will leave the Amazon and join your team."
"This is clearly a lack of confidence in me," Ernst chuckled inwardly, but showed no displeasure on his face.
However, he didn't care whether it was Cassio Lake or John McCarthy who joined the team first or last, as the ultimate goal was to bring them under his wing and work together to advance the cloud computing project.
"Furthermore, I can help you get in touch with your former colleagues who worked on this research at MAC."
"We've kept in touch all these years, and many people feel that distributed computing has a bright future and regret that the research wasn't continued back then," Cassio Lake added.
Ernst's eyes lit up instantly; he had never expected such a wonderful gift to await him.
What kind of team is this?
He was certain that they were the group of people in the world who understood cloud computing best.
If we can get them to join our team, with their rich experience and deep technical expertise, cloud computing might be developed very quickly.
"Then it's a deal." Ernst raised his glass of champagne, a smile spreading across his face. "Go back and prepare for the handover of your work. It won't be long before you receive a call from John McCarthy."
Cassio Lake pouted, his expression still showing a hint of doubt. He clinked glasses with Ernst but didn't say anything, his expression seeming to say: Wait until you can really handle John McCarthy before you talk.
"I'm seriously reminding you, you still don't know Jeff Bezos well enough. He won't let go of someone as talented as you easily," Ernst said again, seeing that Cassio Lake still had doubts.
This is tantamount to telling the other party that if they want to leave the Amazon, they will likely suffer greatly, if not die.
"You don't seem to have had any dealings with him before, do you?" Cassio Lake's expression instantly turned displeased. He felt that Ernst was deliberately belittling Jeff Bezos, and his tone was full of wariness and dissatisfaction.
Ernst had no prior interaction with Jeff Bezos, but that did not prevent him from understanding the other man's style of doing things.
What's more, this guy is now full of hostility towards him. Even though he is talking to Cassio Lake right now, he can clearly feel the other party's undisguised malice.
Once Cassio Lake submits his resignation, it will be difficult for the other party not to associate it with today's meeting, and it will be a miracle if he leaves easily.
"We'll see how this goes. Consider it a bet between us, and we'll settle things after you switch jobs."
Ernst didn't offer much explanation, believing that time would tell.