I agree with you on the remote information. My laptop fried recently, but some of my most important information is located online. My contacts, links, and even notes are scattered across the internet for this very reason.

But on the flip side, I wonder if Ian is right – would a company still use our data against us in some kind of contract dispute? I look at cell phone companies and other notorious services and wonder…

@ Flava: my pleasure! It’s still a pretty geeky term if you’re not knee deep in gadgets these days.

I agree with you on the remote information. My laptop fried recently, but some of my most important information is located online. My contacts, links, and even notes are scattered across the internet for this very reason.

But on the flip side, I wonder if Ian is right – would a company still use our data against us in some kind of contract dispute? I look at cell phone companies and other notorious services and wonder…

@ Flava: my pleasure! It’s still a pretty geeky term if you’re not knee deep in gadgets these days.

Since PCs arrived, someone has come along every three to five years with a “smart terminal” and claimed that a return to time sharing is the answer to all our problems. So far, every single one of them has been wrong.

Since PCs arrived, someone has come along every three to five years with a “smart terminal” and claimed that a return to time sharing is the answer to all our problems. So far, every single one of them has been wrong.

So many people use “cloud computing” already without seeing it directly — for email, web search, video, online shopping, and probably the hosting for this blog as well.

In one sense, cloud computing can be leveraged for better power efficiency in ways not unlike plug-in hybrid vehicles. Server facilities (e.g., Google in Oregon) are located close to power generation plants. Less energy gets lost in transmission. Laptop computers probably won’t become nearly as efficient, due to issues of weight, portability, durability, etc. It makes sense to push the “heavy lifting” for computation and storage off to remote servers which are more efficient — as long as privacy concerns are managed carefully.

In another sense, my laptop’s disk drive went out last week. I had backups for data, but most important data (contacts, email, work documents, source code) were all out on cloud resources. Those took only moments to restore, once a new disk was installed. In short, quite robust and simple to use.

So many people use “cloud computing” already without seeing it directly — for email, web search, video, online shopping, and probably the hosting for this blog as well.

In one sense, cloud computing can be leveraged for better power efficiency in ways not unlike plug-in hybrid vehicles. Server facilities (e.g., Google in Oregon) are located close to power generation plants. Less energy gets lost in transmission. Laptop computers probably won’t become nearly as efficient, due to issues of weight, portability, durability, etc. It makes sense to push the “heavy lifting” for computation and storage off to remote servers which are more efficient — as long as privacy concerns are managed carefully.

In another sense, my laptop’s disk drive went out last week. I had backups for data, but most important data (contacts, email, work documents, source code) were all out on cloud resources. Those took only moments to restore, once a new disk was installed. In short, quite robust and simple to use.