Everyone is talking about the cloud, but many are confused about what, exactly, the cloud is. Or more specifically, where the cloud is. After my presentation on virtual learning environments at a recent consulting meeting, an older gentleman asked me about the cloud. ”Is the cloud just ‘up there?’ somewhere? Where is it?” It was difficult for me to explain that the cloud is nothing new. The terminology is just incredibly popular right now, and is big marketing talk, but cloud computing has been around since the Internet was born.
When we talk about cloud storage, all we are really saying is that the data and files reside on a piece of hardware, (a server) located somewhere besides your house and all of its hardware. For example: back when the first BBS emerged, it provided a forum or message board system for people to type to one another via modems connected to the early Internet. That BBS was installed on a server somewhere, not on each participant’s PCs or Macs. It was, essentially, “in the cloud.” All that means is that the physical location of something is not right there with you.
If you have web hosting accounts and domain names, you are already computing in the cloud. You store files, images, videos, music, and email messages on the server where your domain is hosted, and you don’t have to store all of that stuff on your own hard drive. That’s cloud computing.
If you have a web based email account such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, or Live Hotmail — and you only access your messages via a web browser or an Internet connected App, then you, too, are cloud computing. Your email messages do not have to be downloaded and permanently stored on your own computer or smart phone or PDA, so they live in the cloud.
Again, this does not imply that data, files, and email messages just magically float around nowhere up in the sky. They do have a physical location: just not where you physically are. That is what it means to be computing in the cloud. It means that you are relying on someone else’s servers to store your stuff, saving you from having to perform hard data backups of your own and from having to maintain a machine for storing it all.
Some people object to the idea of cloud storage because they do not trust those operating cloud servers to be vigilant stewards of their precious files and data. They may use the cloud as an afterthought, but they do not relent in their own persistent backups for fear of losing what is being stored. They will pretty much keep hard data backups, even after years of reliable service from a cloud storage vendor.
Next month, Apple is expected to release a true Cloud storage product that will also serve as a music locker, allowing users to keep all their iTunes music in the cloud rather than on their iPods, iPads, iMacs, Macbooks, Macbook Pros, or Power Macs. Or PCs, if you’re into that.
Amazon.com recently launched a music and file storage service, giving everyone who signs up 5 GB of free storage for files and pictures, and yes, music.
So, the cloud is real. It’s here to stay. It’s more reliable than ever and people are warming up to it as an idea whose time has come — but remember, it is not new. You’ve been using the cloud for a long time now. Relax.
