

Apple to Build $1B Server Farm in North Carolina - profquail
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/820351.html

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htsh
I'd love to hear other people's speculation as to what they're doing. I think
that they're going to build a massive suite a cloud-based apps, potentially
even offering things like your iTunes library wherever you are on the
internet. And I wouldn't even be surprised if pro-level stuff like Final Cut &
Soundbooth made its way to the cloud at some point.

It makes sense to me as there's a big overall shift in that direction.
Thoughts?

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celiadyer
State of Georgia needs to do similarly.

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jonknee
Why? Data centers provide a small number of jobs and use enormous amounts of
electricity. They gave Apple $46m to get 50 jobs that pay $50k a year. Do the
math, Apple got essentially free labor for the next 18 years.

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aneesh
That's not quite correct. They didn't give Apple $46m. The $46m that they're
"giving up" is money they would never have had otherwise. The town had 2
choices:

1) Don't give any tax break. Apple will likely go elsewhere, and the town
doesn't get any additional tax revenue.

2) Give Apple a break on some fraction of their taxes, amounting to $46m. They
will still get some tax revenue from Apple.

It's like saying a store is giving money when it puts a product on sale. The
town is just lowering the price to sell more goods.

