Re: [9fans] Plan9 - the next 20 years

[Eric Van Hensbergen <ericvh@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 2:43 PM,  <tlaronde@polynum.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 08:16:40PM +0100, Steve Simon wrote:
>> I cannot find the reference (sorry), but I read an interview with Ken
>> (Thompson) a while ago.
>>
>
> My interpretation of cloud computing is precisely the split done by
> plan9 with terminal/CPU/FileServer: a UI runing on a this Terminal, with
> actual computing done somewhere about data stored somewhere.
>

That misses the dynamic nature which clouds could enable -- something
we lack as well with our hardcoded /lib/ndb files -- there is no
provisions for cluster resources coming and going (or failing) and no
control facilities given for provisioning (or deprovisioning) those
resources in a dynamic fashion.  Lucho's kvmfs (and to a certain
extent xcpu) seem like steps in the right direction -- but IMHO more
fundamental changes need to occur in the way we think about things.  I
believe the file system interfaces While not focused on "cloud
computing" in particular, the work we are doing under HARE aims to
explore these directions further (both in the context of Plan
9/Inferno as well as broader themes involving other platforms).

For hints/ideas/whatnot you can check the current pubs (more coming
soon): http://www.research.ibm.com/hare

      -eric