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The Cloud Computer

oxide.computer

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Re: The Cloud Computer

#721

Post by zemo »

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…

> Ironically this looks like the realization of Richard Stallman's dream where users can help each other if something doesn't work.

that's only true if you think that "users" means "people who operate cloud computers", which is about as far from understanding what Stallman is talking about as is possible. Someone who makes SaaS and runs it on an Oxide computer is no less of a rentier capitalist than someone who makes SaaS and runs it on AWS.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#722

Post by zmmmmm »

What's the interface point by which I can utilise this "cloud" - is it providing an AWS like API, is it something standard I can tap into so I'm not "locked" into this just as much as I am my cloud vendor? Or is it all in on Kubernetes and I have to use that?

Re: The Cloud Computer

#723

Post by otteromkram »

danbruc wrote: post #358
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.

Tangent. In my admittedly limited experience, embedded code seems to have a tendency to be some of the worst code you can come across. The stuff is already low level and not the most easy to follow, but then embedded developers seem to despise names with more than two letters and a number. Without the datasheet at hand it is impossible to figure out what any of the code does because everything is just an abbreviation…

What's the point of your comment?

Re: The Cloud Computer

#724

Post by LarsDu88 »

Didn't Sun Microsystems used to do this? Sell servers in shipping crates?

Didn't that still come with the weeks of overhead that compelled people to adopt cloud in the first place?

Re: The Cloud Computer

#725

Post by c0pium »

steve1977 wrote: post #98
growse wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nonsense. The operative bit of "cloud" is "provision and de-provision instantly via an API, without much concern for what's going on inderneath", not "lives in someone else's datacenter".

It’s called cloud because it’s not in your own data center. Usually cloud symbols were used in network diagrams to depict systems/networks outside of our concern. Also you could don’t really get elasticity with a system like this. If anything, that would be the operative bit for me.

> you could don’t really get elasticity with a system like this

Of course you do, right up until the point where you’ve used all available capacity. Just like with public clouds (ask anyone using meaningful amounts of {G,T}PUs). Elasticity doesn’t imply infinitely elastic, that would be ridiculous.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#726

Post by dgb23 »

slibhb wrote: post #342
dgb23 wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think salary should be tied to location, but it should be tied to experience, ability, and effort. That's the labor theory of value (see: Smith, Marx), which in theory sounds meritocratic but it can't really be measured or assessed. In reality compensation either becomes a function of power, social currency and negotiation skills, which is the general norm in professions, or you have an institutionalized, p…

Saying that people should be paid according to experience, ability, and effort is absolutely not the labor theory of value. The idea that contribution "can't really be measured" is a cop-out. Contribution can't be measured perfectly but it can be estimated with some accuracy by people who are involved in day-to-day work. "Some accuracy" is really all that's required: as long as contribution is correlated with compens…

The problem is that in the end, power, negotiation and social currency often dominate over merit (such as effort, experience etc.) when it comes to compensation.

Even if you actually do measure and agree on metrics, then the measurement can easily become the goal for those who are not intrinsically motivated. Work ethic can't be taught by dangling carrots in front of people, because acquiring the carrot becomes the goal instead of moving the cart. This can be detrimental in a highly collaborative workplace.

Having a flat, generous salary might solve this problem, because you filter out carrot hunters and get cart movers.

> I bet it works great if you have a small team, are extremely picky about hiring, and quickly fire bad hires. Otherwise it will be awful.

Finding the right people to work with is difficult regardless. The same worker can be miserable in one place and flourish in another.

Re: The Cloud Computer

#727

Post by mstade »

benjaminleonard wrote: post #481
mstade wrote: post #284

It bugs me more than it should that they flirt with hexadecimal numbers in their branding with the whole 0x thing, but the logo is 0xide when clearly it ought to be 0x1de. Designer came up with a clever idea but didn't understand hexadecimal, and no one had the heart to tell them? :o) I'm kidding, mostly. The engineer in me is bothered by it, but the part of my brain that cares more about design and branding understa…

You may be happy (or unhappy) to know that was definitely considered – it felt a little more trouble than it was worth, and dare I say a little too on the nose? We did manage to get a neat PCI vendor ID: https://pcisig.com/membership/member-companies?combine=01de

Haha yes, definitely a little too obvious. I love your branding by the way, great work!

Re: The Cloud Computer

#728

Post by zemo »

their whole "AWS is bad because THEY are engaging in rentier capitalism, we are good because we sell you the tools to let YOU engage in rentier capitalism" shtick rings empty to me

Re: The Cloud Computer

#729

Post by J_Shelby_J »

addisonj wrote: post #455

I have been following oxide for a bit, and really don't have to add to the tech conversation, but do want to say: Congrats to the team on reaching this big milestone and (in my eyes at least) just as much congratulations on doing it in a way that has been unique and sticking to values that seems to drive a strong positive culture (at least from the outside looking in). Shipping products is hard , and only getting har…

> Shipping products is hard

And shipping full cabs is harder!

Re: The Cloud Computer

#730

Post by dfc »

sbarre wrote: post #523
Voultapher wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question, you mention Hyper-converged, can you point to anything that comes even close to the experience you presumably get from the Oxide offering.

Part of the problem here is that the people who make the purchasing decisions (like this CTO guy) don't care about "the experience" because they're not the ones unpacking boxes and plugging in cables. They pay other people to do that and they don't really care if it's a miserable time. And if it takes days instead of hours, who cares? Rarely is someone setting up a data center under the gun (unless you're Elmo and we…

Who is Elmo?
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