Technology News And Reviews

Much of our computing (including the storage of our personal data) is now being done remotely via the 'cloud'. But what is it? Here is a brief history of this radical shift while, below, we assess the relative merits of four cloud computing services

 The question was designed to draw attention to the ingenuity with which the company's designers had managed to pack the components of an entire desktop computer into what was effectively an enclosure for a large flat screen. But actually it's a question with a more contemporary relevance, because nowadays most of us rely on "computing" that's provided by machines we never see and could not locate even if we tried. They are somewhere out there in the internet "cloud" (so called because the network is often drawn as a cloud in technical diagramIt's very different from how things used to be. Once upon a time the computer was the PC (or the laptop) on your desk. If you wanted to do word processing, or calculations on a spreadsheet, or to read and write emails, you did so by launching a program that ran on your computer. And the data – the documents, calculations or messages – that you produced were likewise stored on the hard drive inside your machine. Even if the PC was connected to the net, most of your computing activity happened inside the box on your desk.s), which is how so many of us came to be users of something called "cloud computing".
Digital cameras and smartphones mean a lot of people have thousands of photos stored on their computers. Why store them in the cloud too? Partly to make them easier to share, but also for security: a back-up in case your hard drive comes a cropper.
Flickr is the best-known cloud photos service, although in recent years it has faced serious competition from Facebook. You can upload to Flickr from your computer or mobile device, and it now makes it easier to post them on social networks too. Rivals include Photobucket and Picasa Web Albums, although now there are also mobile cloud photo apps such as Instagram and Picplz, which let you apply a range of visual effects before sharing.
Cloud computing providers deliver applications via the internet, which are accessed from web browsers and desktop and mobile apps, while the business software and data are stored on servers at a remote location. In some cases, legacy applications (line of business applications that until now have been prevalent in thin client Windows computing) are delivered via a screen-sharing technology, while the computing resources are consolidated at a remote data center location; in other cases, entire business applications have been coded using web-based technologies such as AJAX.At the foundation of cloud computing is the broader concept of infrastructure convergence (or Converged Infrastructure) and shared services.^[5] This type of data center environment allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with easier manageability and less maintenance, and enables IT to more rapidly adjust IT resources (such as servers, storage, and networking) to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.