The Cloud

Today on television I saw the first real introduction of the next step of technology. I saw the first real commercial for practical use of the “Cloud.” For most people the Cloud might cause them to think of the really lame Windows commercials where normal people go onto the cloud to do their work. When I watch that commercial I just think “Look at these people using an application on their computer that works well with other applications and syncs with the Internet.” In their attempt to educate the public about cloud technology they have completely confused everyone, even me who had an idea of what cloud technology is.

So what is cloud networking or cloud technology? The most basic way to explain it is to say that computers will no longer need hard drives. The hard drive of a computer stores all of the information that you save and stores the applications like Microsoft Word and Photoshop that you may want to run on your computer. So how do you even have a functioning computer without a place to save all of the work that you have done or run the applications that you need to have at your fingertips. The answer is in the “cloud” also known as the Internet or more specifically, the servers of your preferred operating system company.

Microsoft, Google, and many major companies have been creating new updating their operating systems so that you can access your computer no matter what computer you are on. Imagine being able to go over to your friends house and still be able to use your computer by logging into your account with Google. This is currently not possible because usually the information that is necessary is on your hard drive, but since Google keeps all of this information on their hard drive at their headquarters then you will be able access it on any Google device and an Internet connection.

There are two basic issues with this technology. I think the most obvious is that Internet is not available everywhere. However, with the widespread 3G and 4G technologies, this is becoming less and less of an issue. It may soon be true that hard wire connections to the Internet will become obsolete. Companies like Comcast might not farewell if computers and TV all receive fast Internet connections. This is still a little ways off, but the improvements in the technology and the wider spread acceptance of cloud technology make this more of a reality everyday.


Another issue with cloud technology is privacy. I personally will make sure that my future computing devices will have hard drives. Although I may not ever hold classified information, I do not really like that everything I work on, on my computer is available from anywhere. This means that any smuck on the Internet has as much ability to access my stuff as I do. There are plenty of clever hackers out there and this is a problem.

However, I doubt that any of these concerns will discourage anyone, because this is so great. The commercial that I recently saw showed a phone being connected to a computer and then the person could use their phone to do all of their work. This is the beginning of cloud technology!