are the computers in star trek cloud based?

[pixelchild]

i know this is a weird question but i am an avid trekkie and i always love comparing what roddenberry envisioned for our future and what is.

i didn't seem to find any evidence of cloud based computing.

 

[linkgx1]

This is random. It's Spock-based. *cues Amazing grace on bagpipes*

 

[Intell]

Star ships like the Enterprise have computer cores on board. Some have more than one core for redundancy. While they can store a vast amount of information, some things must still be downloaded from Starfleet over a subspace link. This process of downloading information is nearly instant and unnoticeable. To answer your question, Star Trek computers are not cloud based.

 

[pixelchild]

Star ships like the Enterprise have computer cores on board. Some have more than one core for redundancy. While they can store a vast amount of information, some things must still be downloaded from Starfleet over a subspace link. This process of downloading information is nearly instant and unnoticeable. To answer your question, Star Trek computers are not cloud based.

thanks this makes sense. i was thinking that if the core itself on the ship was the server and everyone's personal in their rooms had connected to it it would sorta be cloud but i guess it wouldn't if it's all wired?

 

[CalBoy]

Each starship has a primary computer, which in past series they implied powered PADDs and terminals in most parts of the ship.

Other than that, the ships get periodic updates from various subspace links, but they don't rely on a central cloud to do computing.

In the DS9 episodes "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" it's implied that Earth does have a single "cloud" core powering most civic and defense functions. I think a ship would move out of range too often to make cloud computing practical.

 

[cube]

thanks this makes sense. i was thinking that if the core itself on the ship was the server and everyone's personal in their rooms had connected to it it would sorta be cloud but i guess it wouldn't if it's all wired?

That is not cloud computing, that is just client-server computing.

 

[Saberj]

The problem is that the ships tend to get so far from home, that any real sort of "Cloud Based" computing would be really difficult.

 

[cube]

If the computation or storage were not hosted on the starships, but on Earth-based Starfleet servers, it would still not be cloud computing, just client-server.

 

[Interstella5555]

Definitely not Enterprise-Enterprise-B and probably not C. In TNG it's likely that most of the information is house on the main computer of Enterprise D, but also probably that the system updates itself regularly for new information/security reports/etc. For the Federation as a whole, it most likely is a cloud-based type of exchange, as it would be extremely unwise to have all the information on one planet or sector. Additionally, when you get to Voyager, it's clear that they can't be communicating directly with Starfleet, so all that information has to be in the ship's mainframe.

 

[Small White Car]

That is not cloud computing, that is just client-server computing.

Why is that not cloud computing?

What's the difference between "iCloud on my iPhone running off North Carolina servers" and a "PADD in Captain Picard's hand running off the computer core on another deck?" Seems similar to me.

Although, wait... Now that I think about it...they weren't connected to anything! Those PADDs had no networking ability at all! Remember all the scenes where a crewmember would WALK up to someone and HAND THEM their PADD? Those things didn't have even have e-mail on them!

So, yeah. The Enterprise sure should have had cloud computing, but it clearly didn't. That's the answer.

 

[Intell]

Isn't cloud computing just glorified client-server computing?

 

[Interstella5555]

The problem is that the ships tend to get so far from home, that any real sort of "Cloud Based" computing would be really difficult.

I'd also imagine they have relay stations on Federation planets, but there has been discussion in the show about the amount of time it takes to send transmissions.

 

[cube]

Why is that not cloud computing?

What's the difference between "iCloud on my iPhone running off North Carolina servers" and a "PADD in Captain Picard's hand running off the computer core on another deck?"

Seems similar to me.

Cloud computing is a kind of client-server computing where you outsource your infrastructure to a service.

If you access a regular web site, it's client-server computing, you're not outsourcing the web site.

If the owners of the web site virtualize it on Amazon, they are doing cloud computing.

If you use gmail, you are outsourcing your storage and maybe the mailer that you would have to manage on your computers to Google.

 

[Small White Car]

Cloud computing is a kind of client-server computing where you outsource your infrastructure to a service.

If you access a regular web site, it's client-server computing, you're not outsourcing the web site.

If the owners of the web site virtualize it on Amazon, they are doing cloud computing.

If you use gmail, you are outsourcing your storage and maybe the mailer that you would have to manage on your computers to Google.

This seems like a silly distinction.

So if I consider all Enterprise crewman to just be 'Starfleet' then it's NOT cloud computing, but if I change my mind and consider the command and engineering departments to be unique groups it IS cloud computing? It changes based on what I call people?

I'm not arguing with your explanation. I believe it. I'm just saying that whoever came up with these terms was sloppy. (No surprise there, I think we all knew 'cloud' was about as well defined as '4G.')

 

[AVonGauss]

Deleted.

 

[tim916]

Don't know, but Lt. Data runs on Android.

 

[cube]

This seems like a silly distinction.

So if I consider all Enterprise crewman to just be 'Starfleet' then it's NOT cloud computing, but if I change my mind and consider the command and engineering departments to be unique groups it IS cloud computing? It changes based on what I call people?

I'm not arguing with your explanation. I believe it. I'm just saying that whoever came up with these terms was sloppy. (No surprise there, I think we all knew 'cloud' was about as well defined as '4G.')

There are "private clouds", but those are not really cloud, the organization as a whole is still responsible for the infrastructure.

 

[Intell]

don't know, but lt. Data runs on android.