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To: Paul Senior who wrote (72411)	2/24/2023 1:26:27 PM
From: Eric Bramble	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78662

IMO, the growth in cloud infrastructure is involuntarily becoming a mandatory part of business/life. Computers for example, in particular laptops, are basically "dumb terminals" IMO. Smaller, faster, more storage BUT all your apps are stored on the cloud Oh wait, your microsoft word. You're gonna have to buy that yearly from the cloud :( Big tech is too strong Maybe Buffett has similar thoughts to yourself but thought, "these things are gonna need a hella-lot of energy in the future. I understand that " . IIRC Berkshire has some contracts with Google for energy supply. OT. When I started thinking about Berkshire's energy investments it became clear that Greg Abel would be the next successor. This was before Munger slipped up during the annual meeting

To: Paul Senior who wrote (72411)	3/6/2023 5:43:43 PM
From: petal	Respond to of 78662

Larry Ellison has a good take on so-called 'cloud' computing: youtube.com People love euphemisms. In this case, a euphemism which makes the concept more – cloudy... Basically, "the cloud" is a great selling term, but really misleading. It ain't something "up there in the heavens". Sure, the data is of course transferred wirelessly these days, but it isn't stored like vapor in the sky. It's much like a traditional factory, or an engine; these "clouds" are massive, physical storage units. They get hot as hell, and takes up a lot of room. The "case for cloud storage" (a better term for "cloud" would be "data storage") is not all that complicated. The ever-growing desire/need for information, and the need for more and more computational power which comes alongside that, creates the need for ever-larger servers/server halls. Basically, if you're gonna create ever more data, you'll need ever larger self storage units. Using myself as an example, I pay 1$ a month to Apple for their iCloud service. Not much, but if the entire rich world does that, it adds up. Also, I've never once used it other than as a back-up copy of my phone (which I no longer use, I've switched back to Android). Another illustration – everyday we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data to the Internet, Google tells me. I was fascinated by large numbers as a kid, and memorized the names of large numbers. A quintillion was the largest number I memorized – it has 30 zeroes. Youtube alone gets 24 terabyte, or 270 000 hours of video, uploaded unto its servers. Cloud computing is the 21st century equivalent to gasoline in the 20th century, or something. You'll need gas to drive those cars (or these days, electricity, of course –some type of fuel, anyway), and the number of cars in the world ain't going down anytime soon. The number of internet-connected devices, or the amount of information consumed, ain't going down either... N.B. Do note that I don't know much about this (as with most things...), and may be making a fool of myself trying to explain something which I am not too knowledgable about!