<p>Cloud computing is starting a revolution in applications. If your perspective on cloud computing is that it's like your established computing mode, just outsourced to an external provider, you're wrong - and you face a painful transition period during which your assumptions and practices will be wrenched and dislocated beyond all recognition.</p><p>A combination of the infrastructure capabilities of cloud environments and next-generation application requirements are causing this transformation. The result will be something faintly recognizable as an application but vastly different in design and operation from what you used to call an "application."</p><p>You can easily understand the reasons for this sea change by contrasting the characteristics of traditional applications with the new applications enabled by and depending upon cloud infrastructure. The following table illustrates key differences between traditional and cloud applications:</p><p>As you can see, traditional and cloud applications differ in several critical aspects. The assumption underlying traditional applications is that their characteristics can be forecast upfront: How many people will use them, what devices will be used to access them and how much infrastructure will be required to run them.</p><p><a href="http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=E0A56B6E-B50B-D272-232FFFB61B45C9C7">Keep reading...</a></p>