“Computing is undergoing a seismic shift from client/server to the cloud, a shift similar in importance and impact to the transition from mainframe to client/server. Speculation abounds on how this new era will evolve in the coming years, and IT leaders have a critical need for a clear vision of where the industry is heading.” –From the whitepaper’s introduction
Today Microsoft released a whitepaper that brings some much-needed clarity to understanding the cost implications of “the Cloud” and what it means for IT and for business. Entitled “The Economics of the Cloud”, this quick-read defines the parameters that measure why and how the implementation of cloud computing will save money; for you, your IT organization, and your business.
“Sounds pretty boring, Kevin.”
Saving money in business is never boring. And getting a better understanding of why you will want to use pools of massive amounts of computing power, on-demand and pay-as-you-go, instead of continuing to build-it-
yourself, is a very worthwhile endeavor. In my opinion this paper does an excellent job of laying out all of the various potential benefits of cloud computing… economies of scale, multi-tenancy efficiencies, pooling and automation of IT resources, etc. It does it in a way that, in the end, leaves you more knowledgeable about the potential that the path to the cloud has for the computing world, and perhaps even excited about starting that journey and taking advantage of the benefits.
But don’t take my word for it. I challenge every IT Worker, Manager, Director, and CIO out there to read this paper. Open your mind to the possibilities. Stop putting whip holders in your horseless carriages.
Absolutely Full of I.T. 
Sounds like the same stuff IBM tried selling in the 80's and Sun tried in the 90's. The simple fact is that the performance of any cloud app will be terrible today and it's not likely to get better in the future.
the speed of cloud adoption = the speed of the internet.
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Ah.. but consider a couple of things:
1. The speed of the Internet "tubes" are ever increasing, but more importantly short term
2. The speed of your application is not dependent upon the speed of your connection to it, if all you're seeing is the results of the work happening "in the cloud".
Did you know that Pixar is using Windows Azure to render their animations? A single frame of one of their movies takes about 8 hours to render on a typical processor… and the movie would take hundreds of years to create at that pace. But add the immense and practially unlimited scale that a good PaaS can leverage, and you get speed.
Plus – You pay just for what you need. You develop your application to leverage it. You decomission when you're done.
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