-- Charles Dudley Warner, 19th century American essayist and novelist

In Hong Kong's steamy, typhoon-teeming summers, everyone talks about the weather-and lately, the air pollution index. But, as Warner noted, no one does anything about it (although HKSAR Chief Executive Donald Tsang is at least talking about our decaying air quality).

And the same could be said about utility computing: everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.

Defining the term

Before every vendor using the term "utility computing" (UC) objects, let's define the term. In the strictest sense of "utility," computing power should be bought and sold like electricity, gas, or water-available 24/7, pay-as-you-use.