Cloud Computing? When I first heard the term I had no idea what Cloud Computing was. It sounded like something very mysterious. How could one compute in a cloud? I started researching what Cloud Computing was. I read everything I could find and, well, I’d started doing it myself a few years before when I started my Windows Live account. I discovered that it came with a Windows Live Workspace which is now called SkyDrive. I could upload documents to it and I could even edit them right there in my browser.
I now also have my Google account. Have had for quite some time now. I love the fact that I can upload documents to my space on Google docs and edit them there also. I can upload my photos to my Picasa account and use them here in my blog and my family website.
Cloud computing is simply creating and saving your work on servers somewhere on the web, rather than just on your computer at your desk at home or work.
I think cloud computing is the wave of the future. It won’t be long before you will not even have any productivity software on your computer. Microsoft has this already with 360. All you do is subscribe to the service rather than buy and install all this software. Another example is on the computers that we buy today. Microsoft’s Word starter and Excel starter is preinstalled on your computer when you buy it. Or is it? It isn’t. Try using it when you’re offline. It won’t work, you have to be online for it to download to your computer each time you click the icon to use it. Then when you shut down your computer it’s gone. It will download again the next time you call for it.
One advantage I see to subscribing to a service rather than buy and install the software is that you’ll never have to buy the latest and greatest version every time they come up with one. It’ll be there when they release it automatically. No more worrying about updates, licenses and all that. It’ll always be there when you need it.
Collaborating on projects is another clear advantage with Cloud Computing. When you collaborate in the cloud, there aren’t documents floating around in everyone’s inboxes in various stages of revision. You have one. And that one document is in the cloud where all revisions also reside. A nice orderly place. A place where everyone working on a project can go to work on it.
The only disadvantage to Cloud Computing is that you must always have access to the web to use it. If you’re offline, you’re out of luck. Being able to be online at all times is getting much easier now and much more reliable. Not only do we have the broadband service with our cable companies, dsl with phone service, but G3 with cell phone companies is now in stages of being replaced with G4 which will prove to be much faster and compete with cable broadband.
Another place we my have been working in the cloud is at our workplaces. All of our data was saved to the company’s servers and not on our workstation. The company had their own network and maintained all their own servers. We were computing in the cloud before the term was even coined.
As we continue to watch computing evolve, I think we’ll see some real dramatic changes coming really quick. We’ll have to adapt to subscribing to a service to use their software, saving all our documents somewhere else, etc. It sometimes makes one feel as though we’ve lost control of what we do somehow.
Another point I would like to make while I’m here. We are always concerned about security while working on the internet. Is our data safe? Well, I might suggest that is safer there than in your home. Or on your computer. You and I are always being reminded to backup, backup and to backup some more. And we don’t do it. At least most of us don’t. And what about theft, or fire or flood? I guess from that point of view I would rather my data be tucked away safely on the web. No matter what happens at home, or to my computer, my data is safe, and I can get a new computer and get to my data.
I just set up my cloud printing with Google Cloud print. It was easy to do. The main reason I did it was to be able to print from my tablet. I was having difficulty printing from my app on my tablet and found Google Cloud Print to be an excellent work around. I can see a lot of uses for cloud printing. You can print to your office printer no matter what your physical location is. Print photos to your home printer or have a friend print to yours while on vacation. Maybe you want to print to a clients printer, the possibilities are endless.
The more computing I do in the cloud the more I’m liking it. I think as you start exploring Cloud Computing you will too. So you might say I’ve got my head in the clouds. Cloud Computing that is. Go ahead and get your head in the clouds too. I would recommend starting with Google docs. Save your work there and you can edit and collaborate on projects right there in the Google Cloud.
I think that’s enough said about Cloud Computing. Maybe I’ve convinced some of you to give it a try. Those who are already using it, I’m sure would agree. It would be interesting to hear from some of you using it to let the rest of us know how it has helped you. Maybe you can give us some unique ways to make use of it.
-Ed
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