A union of impatience and mobility is pressing us closer to Cloud Computing. Once mainstream media announces something technological, we’re headed for it within 24 months. Hidden among the normal chatter of Twitter and G1 and Sprint and email service outages are the little hints that point to Windows getting phased out, mobile devices getting prime real estate spots in our everyday lives and, what I dread, Cloud Computing.

Two large schools of thought are forming: Household computers as appliances serviced by outside vendors and used as regularly as washing machines, and; computing mobility always on, always ready and knowing, at all times, where you are and what you might be up to. Both schools derive from the idea of Cloud Computing but take two different approaches.

Our current impatience with computer Start up times, or Boot time has made the New York Times. While it’s true that Boot Time is a lot like starting a car in the frigid temps of winter and can demand a considerable wait, I was pleased to note that Windows XP’s Service Pack 3 cut my own Boot Time in half. I don’t know or care how. I do know that I can no longer make a good cup of coffee in the time it takes to start my computer.

As I read through the headlines about TableTop Computers, Google’s G1, Apple’s iPhone, Sprint’s cell phone service and Internet PCMCIA cards, something is dawning on me. This Cloud Computing nightmare is coming. My opinion of it is both poor and not popular. In short, I’m all for the sacrifices that make computing independence possible: Long boot times; logging on to secure Internet connections; not always allowing my iPhone Camera to know where I am, etc.

All the IBM-compatible players (HP ASUS Microsoft Linux Dell for example) are now taking fast Boot Time to heart. All the pro-sumers are taking mobility to heart. All IT guys and silicon valley boy-wonders are taking the Cloud to heart (except for one older guy whose name I can’t remember). In short, always on, always there, always ready. The DeviceVM instant-on SpashTop toy that hit the news wires in May2008 (shipped with ASUS laptops and motherboards) is no longer the unique and interesting start-up that it “used to was.”

We’ll talk about this another time, but my thoughts on The Cloud aren’t good. As far as start up Boot Time is concerned, trim your applications down, get the SP3 for Windows XP, calm down, don’t “be spoiled,” as the New York Times article says, by your handheld mobile devices. Boot Time is the least of our worries these days and I just hate that the ball has been set in even more motion towards this super cloud computing vision.