Cloud computing is a hot item right now, but if you ask some IT professionals it’s just a meaningless buzzword. Consumer evidence suggests otherwise, however: more and more, people are using cloud-based solutions during the course of their day-to-day living.
While you might not realize it, cloud computing is part of a bigger picture movement that’s placing less emphasis on computers per se, and more emphasis on convenient and accessible ways to retrieve and manipulate our data on a daily basis.
Let’s take a look at a few of the most common uses for cloud services today:
- Email. The oldest implementation of cloud services is probably also still the most widely used. We’re talking about hosted email services, such as Hotmail or Gmail. The days when most of us received our email addresses as part of our ISP service are long gone; in terms of personal email, cloud services are king.
- Online storage. In the past year or so, online storage solutions have gained some serious steam. Services like Dropbox let you have a certain amount of space on their servers to keep your files – often for free. (Of course, they charge a premium if you want to use more space.) Teams are using online storage for collaboration, people are allowing access to files via these services, and even Apple is getting into the act with iCloud.
- Financial services. There are a number of companies that offer online financial services. Mint.com, for example, is a cloud-based way for you to manage your checkbook. QuickBooks Online offers a similar service for businesses. By using cloud-based financial services, you no longer need to be tied to a specific computer or even a specific network. You simply need an Internet connection.
- Photo editing. Traditionally, editing photos has been one of those resource-intensive activities that you could only do on your computer. After all, large graphics files require significant amounts of system resources to manipulate. Today, however, there are a number of services like Picnik that allow you to edit photos via a cloud service.
- Greater mobility. One thing that cloud services have done for us is allow us to use so many of our computing resources remotely. For example, you can access any of the services mentioned above from a smartphone or a tablet, rather than just on your PC. Cloud services are giving us fingertip access to our most important information, and giving additional steam to the mobile computing revolution.
Skeptics suggest that cloud computing is nothing more than a buzzword, that it’s hot today and will be gone tomorrow. However, when you think about it in terms of the bigger picture, it becomes readily apparent that the marketplace is ripe for these kinds of technologies. They make our daily lives more convenient, and more flexible. They give us greater access to the information we need. Not only that, they do it in a way that’s more stable and secure than if we were simply running applications on a home computer.
Eric Greenwood is a technophile whose interests have lead him to study all things cloud from software as a service to the online storage movement. Get more tips and advice on the blog Online Storage!