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The Cloud Computer

oxide.computer

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Re: The Cloud Computer

#441

Post by cryptonector »

TrueDuality wrote: post #85

I'd like to add that their open source code is also EXTREMELY high quality. If you're an embedded developer go take a look at Hubris and Humility. I ended up using those to GREAT effect for this custom one-off aerospace device and it was a fantastic experience to integrate with. Definitely a change from what I was used to that took a bit of getting used to.

> their open source code is also EXTREMELY high quality

I would expect nothing less from that crew. They did amazing things at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (RIP), and they continue to do even greater things now.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#442

Post by cashsterling »

I've been following Oxide since they formed and I really hope they crush it.

Semi-sort-of related... there was an automation company, Bedrock automation, that went defunct about a year ago. Their PLC hardware ideas were dope but I always felt like they were missing the boat a little bit by supporting stale PLC programming languages. I used to wonder if supporting Rust and Ada on these PLC's would be been a good idea to diversify/specialize into complex control system domains. Also, iirc, Bedrock didn't support EtherCAT which I felt was a mistake.

Anyhow... one of these days it would be cool for a forward thinking company like Oxide to tackle what a modern complex, distributed control system hardware/software stack should look like using Rust/Hubris.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#443

Post by layer8 »

lopkeny12ko wrote: post #404
layer8 wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It gives them more flexibility and reduces competition. It’s quite common in B2B, for products/services in that pricing range.

How in the world is reducing competition a good thing?

Making it harder to compete with them is a good thing for Oxide, obviously, and therefore why it provides negative incentive for them to publicly advertise pricing.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#444

Post by closeparen »

cdchn wrote: post #427
closeparen wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Location independence is not the interesting part of Oxide’s compensation strategy. It’s that everyone makes exactly the same. There are no negotiations, no levels, no promotions, and consequently no promo packets or promo projects. This is extremely enticing to FAANG types who are tired of a certain kind of bullshit, at the cost of a certain level of ambition.

Selecting for lack of ambition may have some negative consequences on your businesses' ambition.

But the problems of engineers optimizing architectures and project plans for their career trajectory over business need are also well-known.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#445

Post by steveklabnik »

cdchn wrote: post #380
steveklabnik wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously different marketing copy speaks to different people. But that is referring to how, when you buy a rack from us, you don't need to put everything together and cable it all up: you pull it out of the box, plug in networking and power, boot the thing up, and you're good to go. Installation time is hours, not days or weeks, which is the norm.

>plug in networking and power No cables, except for a few cables.

Yes, those are two different things.

To be super clear about it, this is referring to not needing to cable up all of the individual sleds to the rack upon installation. It doesn't mean that we recommend connecting a rack of compute to your data center via wifi.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#446

Post by cryptonector »

throw0101a wrote: post #27
fefe23 wrote: post #11

This is actually a pretty big deal. They sell servers, but as a finished product. Not as a cobbled together mess of third party stuff where the vendor keeps shrugging if there is an integration problem. They integrated it. It comes with all the features they expect you to want if you wanted to build your own cloud. Also, they wrote the software. And it's all open source. So no "sorry but the third party vendor droppe…

> They sell servers, but as a finished product. They sell rack-as-compute.[0] Their minimum order is one rack: You plug in power and network, connect to the built-in management software (API), and start spinning up VMs. [0] With built-in networking and storage.

It would be interesting to sell a data center in a container. Cooling, power supply, compute, storage, and network, all in a box. You supply power, a big network pipe, and the piping to external heat exchangers.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#447

Post by hderms »

foobiekr wrote: post #272
ollybee wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Existing vendors will provide rack integration services and deliver a turn key solution like this. Also vendors of virtualization management software have partnerships with hardware suppliers and be happy to deliver fully integrated solutions if you're buying by the rack. The difference is in those cases you have flexibility in the design which seems to be missing here. Proxmox and a full rack of Supermicro gear woul…

Also future datacenter builds are going to be focusing on specific applications which means specific builds. I think Nvidia has a much better chance here with their superpod than Oxide. The target use case is pretty unclear. On-prem buyers are doing cost reduction and cost reduction targets things like, as one example, the crazy cost of GPU servers on the CSPs. Your run of the mill stuff is very hard to cost reduce.…

can you elaborate a bit? What you're saying sounds pretty interesting but I'm too ignorant to read between the lines

Re: The Cloud Computer

#448

Post by Voultapher »

Upvoter33 wrote: post #439
fefe23 wrote: post #11

This is actually a pretty big deal. They sell servers, but as a finished product. Not as a cobbled together mess of third party stuff where the vendor keeps shrugging if there is an integration problem. They integrated it. It comes with all the features they expect you to want if you wanted to build your own cloud. Also, they wrote the software. And it's all open source. So no "sorry but the third party vendor droppe…

I don't see it as a big deal - rather, I see it as a huge amount of venture cap spent on some very bright people to build something no one really wants, or, at best, is niche. Also, it has little to do with the cloud; it is yet another hyperconverged infra. Weirdly, it is attached to something very few people want: Solaris. This relates to the people behind it who still can't figure out why Linux won and Solaris didn…

Right, who wants or benefits from open source firmware anyway.

Also there are many situations where renting, for example a flat makes a lot of sense. And there are many situations where the financials and or enabled options of owning something make a lot of sense. Right now, the kind of experience you get with AWS and co. can only be rented, not bought. Some people want to buy houses instead of renting them.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#449

Post by gigel82 »

That's an interesting juxtaposition to Microsoft's move to "cloud computer" which is a thin client with everything (including the OS) streaming from the cloud.

Or maybe it'll be a curious unintended match instead, with whatever "streaming" devices Microsoft pushes next being connected to one's own "cloud computer" instead...

Re: The Cloud Computer

#450

Post by jefurii »

ranger207 wrote: post #303
behnamoh wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a side note, I really liked their website. The ASCII animations are interesting -- wish there was a video game that had those.

Cogmind ( https://www.gridsagegames.com/cogmind/ ) has those sorts of animations

The developer also released the ASCII art editor he used to make all those nifty designs: https://www.gridsagegames.com/rexpaint/
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