I just asked a few Wolfram employees at SXSW what this is. They said, "It's Mathematica running on our servers with better data store and NLP integration."
I also told them that the community seems confused about the product and that this page seemed to be mostly marketing bullshit. For some reason that made them really defensive, and they explained "It's pretty clear from the page what we're offering and the people we're trying to reach will see the value."
The Programming Cloud is specifically focused around workflows and features that programmers are likely to want and need.
So I doubt any of us would have told you that the Programming Cloud is "Mathematica running on our servers with better data store and NLP integration." That's not the way we think or talk internally about our technology stack, and its certainly not the way we talk to customers.
Judging from the reactions in the press, and even in Mathematica user communities, there's a lot of confusion about what's coming. For some people, a bit of plain speaking, rather than marketing hyperbole and premature teasing, would be welcome. However, I'll admit that the WolframBuzzWord tactics are generating a lot of attention, which is probably the point.
"The Programming Cloud is specifically focused around workflows and features that programmers are likely to want and need." - that sounds like an awful marketing speak to me. What do you actually MEAN?
For what it's worth, I've also had a hard time recently understanding what the Wolfram Language and associated products are outside of the marketing bullshit.
There's only so much we can do before those products are released. The Programming Cloud will go live in the next few weeks, along with executable examples on various language and marketing pages.
Seems like lots of programmers despise advertising. It is an example of irrational religious behaviour, the very thing they claim to oppose.
How much of advanced technology was forgotten and eventually reinvented due to the lack of proper advertising?
Lisp and Smalltalk contained lots of ideas that made Wolfram products possible. Hackers who appreciate those ideas should probably be excited that a successful entrepreneur exists who makes larger audiences familiar with them at last.
> Seems like lots of programmers despise advertising. It is an example of irrational religious behaviour, the very thing they claim to oppose.
What is irrational or religious about despising attempts designed to obfuscate meaning? Good advertising would communicate clearly. If you can find programmers that also despise non-deceptive advertising you might be onto something.
I also told them that the community seems confused about the product and that this page seemed to be mostly marketing bullshit. For some reason that made them really defensive, and they explained "It's pretty clear from the page what we're offering and the people we're trying to reach will see the value."
FYI to those wondering.