May 31, 2010

  • What is Cloud Computing and does it mark the end of the Windows era

    There is some debate going on currently that with so many people moving to the use of Cloud Computing that the use of Windows and the Office Suite are coming to a close.  To begin though let's go over what exactly Cloud Computing is.

    Cloud Computing is where you take the files, photos, applications or anything else you might otherwise run locally and store on your computer and move it to the public internet.  This means that GMail, Google apps, Flickr and other sites are cloud computer applications.  Google apps is the clearest definition of it.  Basically instead of opening Microsoft Word, writing a paper, and then saving it to your hard drive you would navigate to the Google Apps page to run the app within the browser window and save your file to Googles Servers instead of your hard drive.  What this allows is more collaboration between people, and easier access to your files since you no longer need to put them on a removable storage device (cd rom, flash drive etc) to bring the files to another computer.  It should now be accessible to anyone who has a web browser and active internet connection.  It is because of this greater flexibility and ease of sharing among a group of people that many are speculating the end of the Windows era.  For myself though I disagree and see some serious flaws with this design. 

    My first concern is of course Privacy.  In Cloud Computing I no longer control that document.  This can allow the company who owns the server I store my document on to search and review anything I write even if it is meant to be private.  If I were to just write and store the document on my own computer with my own hard drive then no one could view or search the document without my permission.

    The other problem I have is that you may not be able to access your document at critical times.  Let's say that you spent all week working on a paper for school, and the day you were going to print or e-mail it to your teacher/professor but your internet connection is down.  You now have to scramble to get to where there is a working connection or risk turning in your paper late.  Obviously you take the same risk on a personal computer if a virus takes over or your hard drive crashes but this can easily be minimized through careful security and regular backups of all critical documents.  I don't like the idea of depending on my internet connection for my grades.

    The final problem with the Cloud Computing VS. Windows argument I have is businesses which is Windows bread and butter.  Companies everywhere depend on Windows because it's what people know, and what's easy to support.  There is no strong competitor for the business market yet so Microsoft will continue to hold it's dominance there.

    With all that said though Microsoft is not without it's problems.  It's mobile market is weak and dying.  People are talking iPhone, Android, and Blackberry but not Windows Mobile.  They are being overtaken by Apple in revenue dollars, and everyday Firefox eats into IE's market.  For too long Microsoft has rested on their laurels and have been slow to innovate.  They have to work to find solutions and to be more nimble but when a company gets to be the that large then that task becomes increasingly more difficult.  Bureaucracy takes over which slows down decision making and reduces the amount of risk that management is willing to take.  Microsoft is not dead but if their not careful competitors will begin attacking their core business of office suites and Operating Systems soon enough.  Google has announced they are working on the Chrome OS and Apple is selling more Macbooks, iPads, and Desktops now than ever before in the past.  The future for Microsoft is uncertain but if they are not careful it is possible they become the IBM of their time.  Still around by largely irrelevant and seeming a relic from the past to the youth of today.