Cloud computing has many different inferences but in its simplest description, it refers to using a computer that works solely off the Internet instead of from your computer’s hard drive. It offers businesses lower start up and maintenance costs and replaces those costs with monthly ongoing fees.
Instead of having to buy the machine, software, servers, and get everything installed, configured and working correctly, you can buy a simple off-the-shelf computer, connect it to the internet and away you go. The ease of using the Internet for the average consumer or small business is that there are many free or low cost options through cloud computing available.
Gmail is a great example of a consumer cloud computing offering as it’s a very powerful e-mail system that is entirely housed and processed by Google’s servers. Unlike Microsoft Outlook Express, you are not tied to a single computer to get your e-mail. Another example is tax-prep software. Now with cloud computing you can sign up online and do your taxes from work, home or anywhere that you have a computer and can log onto the Internet Or, in the more traditional manner you can buy the disk, install the software and then be responsible for backing it up and keeping track of all the data on your hard drive, hoping your computer doesn’t crash at some point and lose it all. The downside to cloud computing is that if you don’t have access to the Internet, or if your connection goes down or the host servers get overloaded or attacked, you have no way to access your data. Another concern voiced by some has to do with data security. Since it’s in the “cloud” critics says it’s exposed to various ways data can be compromised on the Internet. However, one also has to realize that data can be exposed to security issues wherever you house the data. If your data is housed on a hard-drive, you risk it being physically stolen or leaked by a hacker on the Internet.
Cloud computing IS for everyone, but it ISN’T for everything! Weigh your pros and cons when deciding when and what to commit to the cloud!
Cloud computing
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