15. The Elephant In The Room
Setting the bar for Internet Content
Editor's Notes
\n
\n
Cloud Computing is one of the latest “buzz phrases” in technology. It sounds mysterious and exotic. My Dad probably would have heard the term and simply thrown up his hands and walked away. But “the cloud” has been around for decades.\n
Cloud computing isn’t anything new. It’s a term that is coming in to vogue to describe a wider range of services than we could have imagined just a few years ago.\n
Cloud computing at its most basic is simply a bunch of computers located all over the world that are connected via the Internet. These computers contain information that users access from remote locations\n
Cable TV has been around for more than 30 years. Traditionally your cable company downloaded content - usually from satellites - and then transmitted it to you over a copper wire. Delivery of today’s television content is changing, but the concept remains the same.\n
All those channels full of high-quality content are sent down from the cloud to that box in you home. There are other great things that live in the “cloud” that we take for granted.\n
How many of you still use an answering machine? The answering machine is going the way of the curly phone cord. Voice mail has been the standard in offices for years. Now most homeowners and small businesses are using messaging servers housed on computers somewhere on the phone company’s network.\n
And let’s not forget e-mail.\n
\n
While on demand video is a relatively new phenomenon, it provides a perfect example of where cloud computing is taking us. Think about the progression from the vinyl album to the portable music player. Auto makers have stopped including cassette tape players in new cars, and some, like the Ford Focus, aren’t even including CD players.\n
The current definition of “the cloud” adds the network portion of this diagram. This takes us beyond what we have known and accepted over the years. But when you think about it, there’s not that much difference. Stuff still resides on computers somewhere else and is delivered to us over a cable. a home or office network, WiFi or even over the air. What IS changing is the way that this stuff integrates into our lives.\n
Just five years ago or so ago taking your computer with you was a real challenge. Computers were bulky. battery life was meager and it was sometimes hard to find free WiFi.\n
Over the last few years laptops have gotten smaller, smartphones have become more popular and free WiFi is available in almost every coffee shop, many fast food restaurants and more and more public locations. Smartphones come with built-in Internet access and carriers offer USB gizmos that allow laptop users to access the Internet from almost anywhere.\n
