
Google Cloud Launches Blockchain Toolkit for App Developers - john58
https://www.ccn.com/google-cloud-launches-blockchain-toolkit-for-app-developers/
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dantiberian
This is a little bit confusingly worded, here is the full press release:
[http://hub.digitalasset.com/hubfs/Press%20Releases/DA_Google...](http://hub.digitalasset.com/hubfs/Press%20Releases/DA_GoogleCloud_FINAL.pdf)

As best as I can tell, all that has happened is that Digital Asset (a company)
is offering their software through the GCP Marketplace:

> "The DAML PaaS is a fully-managed solution that developers can use to test
> and deploy DLT applications, ​accessible through Google Cloud’s Orbitera
> application marketplace technologies."

This article [http://fortune.com/2018/07/23/google-cloud-digital-
asset/](http://fortune.com/2018/07/23/google-cloud-digital-asset/) makes it
sound like it is a big deal, but I'm not seeing anything on Google's side
about this. I don't think Google Cloud is actually offering anything here?

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NizaAfrica
What's the point of having a centralised blockchain? As far as I understand
the thing that sets blockchain apart from the traditional data systems is that
each participant maintains, calculates and updates new entries into the data
system. All nodes work together to ensure they are all coming to the same
conclusions. But in this case Google cloud will serve as the master whilst
everyone else is a client which is just the same thing as a traditional data
system. Correct me if I'm wrong

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Xakdra
Another question that seems to be avoided whenever I ask professionals is the
usage of the blockchain. I personally do not see it's practical application
beyond its use in crypto currency or other financial related use cases such as
validation of user purchase histories. But what else is there for the tech?
Looking for some insight.

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hanniabu
It can be used anywhere there's a middleman/ intermediary or where trust is
required.

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JustFinishedBSG
> where trust is required.

Blockchains don't solve the trust problem at all. Except if none of the trust
problems you have interact somehow with the material world

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gibsons77
That's the only thing blockchains solve is the decentralization of trust.
Oracles provide a bridge, and it is possible to make trusted decentralized
oracles.

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EGreg
Google Cloud

Amazon Cloud

Didn’t those sound like they’re nebulous like “the internet”? No one owns the
internet!

But those clouds were proprietary.

A real cloud would be made up of thousands of computers all joining together
to store info.

Same here. What good is a blockchain that Google owns? About as good as file
storage by Amazon or email by google.

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akerl_
I can't tell if you're being intentionally facetious, but I'd say the market
indicates file storage by Amazon and email by Google _are_ quite valuable.

~~~
EGreg
I would say, like Dijkstra, they are recording the value on the wrong side of
the ledger!

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SomeRandomDev
Give it time and they'll give you a two month heads up that they'll be
astronomically raising the API costs. Whether something you _were_ paying
$50-70 a month for would now cost you closer to $15,000 a month for the exact
same thing.

Because that's what they just did to Google Maps API.

