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Cloud Computing Insider

Author: David Linthicum

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Hosted by cloud computing pioneer David Linthicum, the Cloud Computing Insider podcast gets to the bottom of what cloud computing, and generative AI can bring to your enterprise. New content will focus on what's important to you as a user of cloud computing and generative AI, and the ability to find value the first time.
161 Episodes
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For the past decade, enterprises have treated multicloud as the logical next step in cloud computing evolution. The promise was simple: more flexibility, less vendor lock-in, better resilience, and the freedom to place workloads wherever they fit best. In practice, however, that promise has often collapsed under the weight of operational reality. Instead of agility, many organizations got fragmentation. Instead of leverage, they got duplicated tooling, inconsistent governance, rising costs, and teams that could barely keep up with the complexity they created.  That is the real story of multicloud, and it is one too few people are willing to tell honestly. In this video, I want to break down why so many enterprises keep failing at multicloud, even after years of experience, millions in spending, and access to the best technology in the world. We'll look at the hidden problems around architecture, integration, security, observability, cost management, and talent, and why these issues keep showing up again and again. Multicloud is not failing because the technology is broken. It is failing because most enterprises still do not understand what it truly takes to design, deploy, and operate it well. And that is exactly what we are going to unpack today.
This video looks back at how cloud computing costs were discussed roughly 10 to 15 years ago, during the period when public cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google App Engine were becoming serious alternatives to traditional data centers. At the time, cloud computing was often promoted as a more cost-effective way to buy computing power, storage, and infrastructure because organizations no longer had to purchase servers, build data centers, or guess how much capacity they would need years in advance.   A major theme in these early discussions was the shift from capital expense to operating expense. Instead of spending large amounts of money upfront on hardware, companies could use public cloud services on a pay-as-you-go basis. Speakers also emphasized elasticity: businesses could scale resources up during busy periods and scale them down when demand dropped, reducing the cost of unused capacity.   However, these videos also show that cloud cost savings were not automatic. Providers framed cloud as cheaper when used efficiently, but they also discussed pricing models, reserved capacity, optimization, and total cost of ownership. Looking back, these talks reveal the early promise of cloud computing: lower upfront costs, faster deployment, and more flexible infrastructure.
If you think quitting a job is a simple matter of giving notice and moving on, this story may change the way you see work entirely. Across the tech and cloud computing world, more employees are finding out that leaving their employer can come with a shocking price tag. Buried in contracts and onboarding paperwork are repayment clauses that demand workers pay back thousands — sometimes tens of thousands — of dollars for training, certifications, or required job preparation if they leave too soon. These agreements are often presented as standard policy, but in practice they can function like a financial penalty for trying to change jobs. In this video, we're looking at the growing use of training repayment agreements, sometimes called TRAPs, and why critics say they are being used to trap workers in jobs they no longer want. We'll break down how these clauses work, why they are especially relevant in tech, IT, and cloud computing, and what happens when employers claim the right to bill workers for required training. We'll also look at real legal cases, government action, and the broader trend of employers trying to turn ordinary job mobility into debt. If workers have to pay to leave, then the real question becomes: how free are they, really?
The cloud job market looks broken — but it's actually just hidden. In this video, we break down the real reasons qualified people aren't landing cloud computing jobs in 2026, and most of it isn't you. Roughly one in three job listings is a "ghost job" posted with no real intent to hire, and tech roles have some of the highest ghost rates of any sector. Meanwhile, hiring managers have stopped trusting resumes entirely — AI-generated applications flooded the market, and now even strong candidates get filtered out by pattern alone. The market is also split in two: recruiters say they can't find enough cloud infrastructure and distributed systems specialists, while generalists barely get interviews. Then there's the channel problem — cold applications convert at just 0.1–2%, while referrals fill 30–50% of all hires, yet most seekers spend their energy on the channel that barely works. Add disappearing entry-level roles and the new expectation that you understand cloud costs and ROI, not just the tech, and the picture becomes clear. This isn't a talent shortage — it's a signal and channel problem. We'll show you exactly what the market is actually rewarding, and how to position yourself so you stop getting filtered out.
The large technology analyst firms are in trouble, and not because the tech market suddenly became less important. They are struggling because the old model that made them powerful no longer works the way it used to. For years, firms like Gartner, Forrester, and IDC built enormous influence by controlling access to research, rankings, market narratives, and executive trust. If you wanted to understand a market, shortlist vendors, or justify a major enterprise bet, you often had to go through them. That created a business built on scarcity: scarce information, scarce access, and scarce authority. But that scarcity is gone. Today, buyers can get market data faster, compare vendors more easily, and pressure-test claims with independent experts, operators, and AI tools in real time. At the same time, many of the big firms look slower, more expensive, and more tied to vendor relationships than ever. Their reports often feel polished but predictable, broad instead of sharp, and safe instead of honest. In a market moving at AI speed, that is a serious weakness. The result is a growing credibility problem: when companies can get faster, cheaper, and more practical insight elsewhere, the old analyst giants stop looking essential and start looking replaceable.    
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