Apple is looking to the cloud

FRUIT THEMED Apple appears to be following Microsoft and the rest of the IT industry and getting into cloud-based computing.

It makes sense, after all Jobs' Mob has been using dumb clients for years, and charging them a fortune for cheap components and dodgy software under an aesthetically nice design. However Apple has recently been granted a patent for administering and maintaining a network-booted operating system. The patent has the catchy title "Method and apparatus for administering the operating system of a net-booted environment."

Of course Macs have been capable of booting from a network since the inclusion of the Netboot feature in the original version of Mac OS X Server, so Apple must have some other ideas for the use of its patent.

Jobs' Mob claims its invention simplifies administrator management of multiple network clients by allowing the administrator to customise or update system volumes from any network computer. Updates and customisations would then be available for any network client to boot from. The patent was filed in July 2006 and is a continuation of a patent application from October 1999.

It looks like Apple's patents for a "net-booted environment" could lay both the technological and the legal framework for a cloud based Mac similar to what Google is trying with its much delayed Chrome operating system.

Apple has big problems when it comes to Cloud-based computers. First, the dumb clients will be cheap, which means Apple's legendary high mark-up will be hard to justify. Secondly it relies on networking expertise, which Jobs' Mob has been historically lacking.

Finally, one of the reasons that the Cloud has not been taking off in the way the industry would like is because of concerns over security. Apple has yet to offer a single viable security product and seems to be based on faith in Steve Jobs' aura to defend its customers from hackers. µ