Ignite: Yep, cloud computing is disruptive

Mark Russinovich and Mark Minasi on Cloud Computing (aka, "Cloud Computing Disruptively") was a rollicking good time for everybody in attendance and watching online. Smart, funny, and down to earth, the pair sat on stage and chatted for just over an hour about the changes that Azure and other cloud services are bringing.

Minasi started right out with a Dropbox reference, calling it a “GWAC” or "Gee, we're a cloud!" But then both Marks addressed Minasi's "cloud-nosticism," an outlook that was shared by a small but important chunk of the audience. Businesses are moving quickly toward the cloud for good reason, but cost really shouldn't be the main directive. It's all about agility.

One of the key points from Russinovich: Businesses only get out of the cloud what they put into it. He also discussed "lift and shift," a simplistic way to port pre-existing services into the cloud with minimal change, but which doesn’t actually save much in terms of time, money, or resources. Instead, it's far better to modernize before, during, and after deployment into the cloud.

Minasi asked "What have we done?" when the discussion came around to cloud lock-in—the legit fear of getting stuck in a vendor’s cloud. But portability is more easily achieved than many people realize. For instance, Azure Stack makes it easy to move services between cloud  and on-premises to suit changing business needs.

It was a great, far-reaching conversation, with lots of smart questions and just as many smart answers from both presenters. (Next time you’re building a conference schedule, add them to the top of your list and be sure to ask early.)

And Ignite is still going strong. Check out the demos, session info, and on-demand content.