Cloud computing

 Its all in the news but whats it all about and will it effect me? Yes its the way computing is going and in many ways it will make it easier and less costly for the private user.  If you use webmail,( i.e. Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo,etc), or Facebook or you shop on the Internet then you are already using ‘Cloud comuting'. It simply means that the hard work of running the programme is not being done by your machine but up in the sky. The change of names for things further complicate matters as programmes are now called ‘APPS’ (applications) the same as on smartphones. In fact there is a convergence between the ‘APPS’ on both devices that will increase over time.
The increase in Cloud computing has implications for several software and hardware companies. Most of our computers are very powerful but we rarely  need the computing power or complex operating systems on board for most of the work we do. So in future it will be very difficult for Microsoft to sell us yet another updated Windows or Office package together with more powerful hardware.
With the ‘cloud’ we only need basic hardware, so if your computer is old and slow then don’t rush to replace it, you may be able to give it a new lease of life (see below). The main constraint with the ‘cloud’ is the speed of your Internet connection. But with the right browser and operating system it is optimised to get the best results from your connection. Another advantage is that most of the APPS (programmes) are free and compatible with what you currently use.Also with a ‘cloud’ operating system on your PC the virus problems virtually disappear. To get slightly technical the reason is in the structure of Windows compared to the operating systems used by Linux  and ‘Apple’ computers.  It is easy to run the ‘cloud’ computing alongside your Windows system so you have the best of both worlds. The learning curve is not to difficult certainly no more so than going from Windows XP to Windows 7 and Office 2010.
At some stage in the future you will have to go down this track so have an experiment NOW!

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Into the Clouds