What is "the cloud"?
Sep. 1st, 2014 05:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1A lot of companies are touting "the cloud" or "cloud computing" as the Next Big Thing in computing. Or even the Current Big Thing. But they don't take the time to explain what "the cloud" is.
I'm a skeptic and a cynic. I won't trust my precious data to something I don't know, understand, or have confidece in. And so I do research, in order to educate myself, and eventually, educate others
What "cloud computing" is, in a nutshell, is using the Internet -- or more spefically, sites on the Internet -- to store data, store applications, or even computing power. The details as to where the data or app is stored aren't often detailed. (But I think they should be, particularly if a company wants to use cloud storage for something that is export-controlled or proprietary. At the moment, I would advise against using cloud storage for that type of data, unless they can be assured that the data would remain on a server physically based in the United States.)
So, what are some examples? Google's Google Drive, which enables Google users to store and share their data with others on a collaborative basis. Microsoft has the SkyDrive (now called the OneDrive), which I'd expect to have similar features and capabilities. (I don't use Sky Drive, so that's an assumption.) Ubuntu One had a cloud storage service, but recently shut it down. wser And I'd bet that Apple also has cloud storage availalable for its iOS and OS X users. Other examples in this arena are Carbonite (cloud-based backup and storage).
There are also some apps available via "the cloud", typically on a subscription service. Microsoft's Office365 is a good example. So are some of the Google apps. Adobe is moving toward this software model. No more downloading and installing software to your computer. And hopefully, no more software piracy.
And some are a hybrid of both storage and app; Evernote is a great example. Their note-taking app runs on many different platforms, and cloud storage is used to store the notes. They also have a web-based app for us Linux folks who don't yet have our own version of Evernote.
As for hitching up a cloud server to help out with computing tasks, I don't think we're quite there yet. But it could be a few years down the road.
Where is it useful? If you have multiple computing devices, cloud storage is a good way to keep your browser bookmarks and files sync'ed up with each other.
I'm a skeptic and a cynic. I won't trust my precious data to something I don't know, understand, or have confidece in. And so I do research, in order to educate myself, and eventually, educate others
What "cloud computing" is, in a nutshell, is using the Internet -- or more spefically, sites on the Internet -- to store data, store applications, or even computing power. The details as to where the data or app is stored aren't often detailed. (But I think they should be, particularly if a company wants to use cloud storage for something that is export-controlled or proprietary. At the moment, I would advise against using cloud storage for that type of data, unless they can be assured that the data would remain on a server physically based in the United States.)
So, what are some examples? Google's Google Drive, which enables Google users to store and share their data with others on a collaborative basis. Microsoft has the SkyDrive (now called the OneDrive), which I'd expect to have similar features and capabilities. (I don't use Sky Drive, so that's an assumption.) Ubuntu One had a cloud storage service, but recently shut it down. wser And I'd bet that Apple also has cloud storage availalable for its iOS and OS X users. Other examples in this arena are Carbonite (cloud-based backup and storage).
There are also some apps available via "the cloud", typically on a subscription service. Microsoft's Office365 is a good example. So are some of the Google apps. Adobe is moving toward this software model. No more downloading and installing software to your computer. And hopefully, no more software piracy.
And some are a hybrid of both storage and app; Evernote is a great example. Their note-taking app runs on many different platforms, and cloud storage is used to store the notes. They also have a web-based app for us Linux folks who don't yet have our own version of Evernote.
As for hitching up a cloud server to help out with computing tasks, I don't think we're quite there yet. But it could be a few years down the road.
Where is it useful? If you have multiple computing devices, cloud storage is a good way to keep your browser bookmarks and files sync'ed up with each other.
