To The Cloud!

For all the complaining we do about the lack of sun in Milwaukee, I've heard a lot of hoopla recently about the cloud. Everything is moving to the cloud, but what do we make of it?

First, let's discuss what the cloud is. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has put several years of research into coming up with a working definition of cloud computing:

"Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction."

Pretty clear, right? In laymen's terms, cloud computing is the ability to place some form of information (documents, music, numerical data, etc.) in a place that is not housed locally (at a home or business computer) and can be accessed or modified from a remote area.

How do you know if you've done something on the cloud? If you've ever published a document on your home computer, gone to the grocery store and edited it from your phone, then edited it again from grandma's computer after dinner that night, you're familiar with the cloud. You may also be familiar with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and I would recommend seeing a doctor as soon as possible.

To some who don't live on the leading edge of technology, it may sound like the stuff of the future, but tech giants are taking note and businesses are following suit.  Cloud computing has become the focal point of many of Google's web services, including Chrome OS and the Android mobile OS. Google allows for e-mail, documents, contacts, calendar, and most recently music, among many other features, to be housed on their servers and accessed from a number of different locations.

In fact, Google's strategists did all they could to market it as a sustainable competitive advantage before the new year in this nifty video.

If Google is perceived to have any tangible lead in this category, it's not much. Other computing giants are on Google's heels when it comes to cloud computing, including Windows, who is marketing their iteration towards the business community with this ad:

(Side note: Seeing this commercial again makes me want to pull my hair out, as Windows ensured that it aired at least two dozen times during every Packers broadcast of the 2010 season.)

Most recently, Steve Jobs and Apple have moved forward with their quest to go wireless with Apple's infrastructure, announcing plans at the Apple WorldWide Developer's Conference (WWDC) to launch their iCloud service in the near future.

As the computer giants get on board, businesses will surely begin to use these services to make themselves more accessible to their consumers.  To tech savvy individuals, the services that are already available can be immensely useful in making day-to-day life in the digital age more organized and easy to navigate.

If you have any experiences (both good and bad) with cloud computing, or have seen an innovative way that it's being used, feel free to share in the comments.