I am on clouds

Having lived in and out of virtual worlds, I mean working in and out of VM machines, I recently stepped on clouds. There were so much talk about cloud computing. Most of the writers were predicting that IT’s future is in Cloud computing. Recent announcement by Google about Chrome OS increased my curiosity. After some digging, these are my impressions.

The concept:

Everyone is enjoying cloud computing already, at least in parts. Everybody is using email programs in the internet. Email application is run from a server. Data (mails) are stored in a server. We use our browser to mount the application, view the data and manipulate them. It is cloud computing. If this concept is scaled up for all applications and data of an enterprise, it is a recognizable “Cloud”.

The advantages:

1. An enterprise can do away with costly servers, dedicated networks and expensive PCs. Less cost of capital.
2. A lot of IT administrative head-aches are gone. The enterprise can concentrate on its core business.
3. The concept allows for cross Platform access eliminating compatibility head-aches.

The disadvantages:

1. The main worry is the loss or theft of data. No enterprise would like their confidential data fall into the hands of competitors.
2. The Enterprise is at the mercy of Cloud service provider. In case of any dispute, the business operation can be stalled.
3. Many in the industries feel that cost of cloud services is still prohibitive and not cost effective.

My experiences in clouds:

I tried G.ho.st cloud service after registering. It is free. You can try clicking here, if interested. This service gives 15Gb storage space, Zoho office suite and other common functionalities. As a home user, I do not still find use of this service. It is first impression and not a considered opinion. The picture shows a screen shot of my desktop inside G.ho.st.

Airtal, my broadband service provider is offering a home PC for Rs. 8,000.00. The system has a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse and a modem like device. In this arrangement, the user is connected to a server from where PC operations can be done. The modem device has an usb port for downloading data. This offer is for the clients of Airtal and is done in collaboration with nivio. It is a real cloud. I can not comment on this, since I did not use it.

Google OS announced is based on cloud computing. Google promises speed, simplicity and security. The concept is sketchy. We will know the shape of OS when it is released next year. If it succeeds, then many can afford a PC priced at less than US$ 100/. This will definitely force other competitors to provide similar products. More the competition, more the merry for a customer.