Cloud computing. You’ve probably heard the term. Maybe you haven’t. How does Wikipedia define it?
Cloud computing is a way of computing, via the Internet, that broadly shares computer resources instead of using software orstorage on a local PC.
Okay, Ian. So your stuff is stored on the internet instead of your local PC. What’s the big deal?
The big deal is that your data is available from anywhere in the world. The implications of this fact have not yet been fully realized. At first, you might dismiss cloud computing as a technological convenience that doesn’t allow us to do anything we couldn’t do before. I beg to differ. In the next decade, our lives will change in ways we can’t imagine, in part due to the fact that more and more of our “stuff” will be available from anywhere. To me, cloud computing is all about decoupling what we can do from where we are.
You probably already use software that harnesses the power and convenience of cloud computing, including Gmail, Flickr, and Facebook. It wasn’t long ago when you had to sit down at a specific computer in order to check your email, look at your photos, or keep up to date with friends and coworkers. However, these are only the first-generation applications of cloud computing – there are wide-open opportunities for cloud apps to step in and make us wonder how we ever lived without them.
Ubiquitous data isn’t the only benefit to cloud computing. Not only is our cloud data available everywhere, but it’s usually backed up two or three times across different data centers scattered across the globe. Can you honestly say that your external hard drive, flash drive, and DVD’s provide you with the same amount of reliability that Google can achieve? What about a natural disaster? A fire? A robbery? I don’t intend to encourage paranoid thoughts, but these things do happen every day. Lost baby photos, wedding albums, home videos, financial records, you name it!
Call me dreary, but the fact that the future is “cloudy” is extremely exciting to me, and I can’t wait to see the power, reliability, and convenience the cloud will bring us in the near future!
Be Happy – the Future is Cloudy!
Cloud computing. You’ve probably heard the term. Maybe you haven’t. How does Wikipedia define it?
Okay, Ian. So your stuff is stored on the internet instead of your local PC. What’s the big deal?
The big deal is that your data is available from anywhere in the world. The implications of this fact have not yet been fully realized. At first, you might dismiss cloud computing as a technological convenience that doesn’t allow us to do anything we couldn’t do before. I beg to differ. In the next decade, our lives will change in ways we can’t imagine, in part due to the fact that more and more of our “stuff” will be available from anywhere. To me, cloud computing is all about decoupling what we can do from where we are.
You probably already use software that harnesses the power and convenience of cloud computing, including Gmail, Flickr, and Facebook. It wasn’t long ago when you had to sit down at a specific computer in order to check your email, look at your photos, or keep up to date with friends and coworkers. However, these are only the first-generation applications of cloud computing – there are wide-open opportunities for cloud apps to step in and make us wonder how we ever lived without them.
Ubiquitous data isn’t the only benefit to cloud computing. Not only is our cloud data available everywhere, but it’s usually backed up two or three times across different data centers scattered across the globe. Can you honestly say that your external hard drive, flash drive, and DVD’s provide you with the same amount of reliability that Google can achieve? What about a natural disaster? A fire? A robbery? I don’t intend to encourage paranoid thoughts, but these things do happen every day. Lost baby photos, wedding albums, home videos, financial records, you name it!
Call me dreary, but the fact that the future is “cloudy” is extremely exciting to me, and I can’t wait to see the power, reliability, and convenience the cloud will bring us in the near future!