Cloud computing is a just-in-time, scalable alternative to
having millions of computers on desktops that individual people use to do what
they need to do. Sure, we’ll still need computers, but who’s to say what they
will look like? Mobile phones, PDAs, perhaps smart interfaces in your electric
car — what would the limits be if you could work anywhere, using powerful
Web-based applications that enabled you to access your own files easily, from
any point on the globe?
By reducing real-world hardware requirements, cloud
computing — in theory, anyway — could potentially help to slow the rate at
which our landfills and small villages are filling up with illegally dumped
computers. Because cloud computing enables sharing reusable resources globally
and is a scalable technology, the lion’s share of the power consumption happens
in the data centers supporting the cloud.
Google Apps
One of the earliest offerings in the cloud computing skies
— long before people were using the term, too — was Google Docs, a free online
word processor that Google enthusiasts could use to create, edit, print, and
share simple documents. At first blush it was unsupported, which meant users
had to tough through it on their own, but it was free and it worked. Not bad. Today,
Google Apps (www.google.com/apps) offers a number of free online applications that help
individuals and groups accomplish all sorts of computing tasks. Whether you
want to send e-mail, schedule appointments, share documents, or talk to someone
near or far, there’s an application — a free application — to help you do that.
If you want to create a Web site or wiki so your team can share its work with
the world, Google Apps has you covered there, too. Google Apps also offers a
Google Apps Team Edition designed to help teams work together effectively. The
utilities involved in the Team Edition are Google Sites, Google Docs, and
Google Calendar.
Zoho
Zoho (www.zoho.com) is an innovative company with a team of more than 120
developers pumping out collaborative, business applications you can use — free
or for a low cost — online at any time. Dig around their Web site to find some
applications that help you work more effectively as a team, and some pretty
hefty business tools that enable you to track, work with, and report on people,
projects, and processes. Signing up for Zoho is free (just go to www.zoho.com)
and you can use your existing Google or Yahoo! login instead of creating a new
one, if you’d rather do that. (Reuse, after all, is a green idea.)
Cloud
Computing enables individuals and teams to work with Web service Applications
from any point of access as illustrated below;
As Web services have continued to
propagate fruitfully and our mobile lifestyles have continued to get more and
more. . . well, mobile. . . it’s not surprising that the way in which we define
both how and where we work would change. The easy access and always-awake
nature of the Web makes it possible for us to access files, events, and each
other from wherever we have Internet access.
Cloud computing is the ability to get the services
and software you need without being tied to a specific place or hard drive.
Cloud computing services provide you with a collection of software services —
for example, the Calendar and Web-based e-mail tools we described earlier —
when you need them, from wherever you happen to be. And there are multiple ways
to access the services, too. You can check e-mail on your phone; post a blog
item via e-mail; or look up your favorite Christian worship song and download
it so you can add it to your Window Media playlist, even though you’re
accessing your account through your sister-in-law’s iPhone.
{ 0 comments... read them below or add one }
Post a Comment