Who knew TLC was the best source of Cloud Computing knowledge?

I'm not proud of this, but I'm the father of a child who has become a reality-show junkie. To be more specific, my child is a TLC reality-show junkie. Luckily it's not all the shows, some of which are quite disturbing, but enough to where a few of them have become part of our family's real-life activities.

What do I mean? For her birthday, my daughter told us she wanted to "go to Hoboken, NJ - to meet Buddy the 'Cake Boss'" (see picture at right). So being as my wife and I want to help our kids experience the world, we're making a trip later this year to NYC, with a side trip over to Hoboken to experience Carlos Bakery and their fine pastries and desserts. Hopefully the lines aren't too long.

So what in the world does this have to do with Cloud Computing, you may ask? Fair question. While setting the DVR for Cake Boss, I've been known to peruse the programming schedule for other TLC shows. Let's take a look at the TLC lineup and see how aligned they are with the Cloud Computing industry these days.

Confused about Cloud Computing? You should be...

You or may not believe this, but I think we've reached a point with Cloud Computing where the discussions centered around "definitions" are almost over and we'll quickly be moving into a stage of people/companies wanting to do stuff. I know what you're thinking...thank goodness we can finally stop having every presentation begin with a NIST definition, or a stack showing *aaS this and *aaS that.

That's the good news.

The bad news? The number of available Cloud Computing options in the market today is mind-blowing. Let's take a basic inventory (in no particular order):

Before you dive into these lists, keep this quote from 'The Wire' in mind:  
Cutty: "The game done changed."
Slim Charles: "Game's the same, just got more fierce."