Life in the Cloud

No, I'm not talking about the planet Bespin or Lando Calrissian (yes, that's a Star Wars reference). I'm not talking about heaven or the "pearly gates." This isn't the story of the little raindrop that could.

What I'm talking about by "Life in the Cloud" is "Cloud Computing."

Many people may not be too familiar with the term "cloud computing," and may become confused when people speak of "The Cloud."

Let me try to clear things up a little bit.

The "Cloud" being referenced in "cloud computing" is the data stored in the "air" above us (Actually, it is data stored on a server accessible from any computer).

While some may not be too aware of the term, odds are, you have used or do use some type of "cloud computing" in your life (I use it daily. I'm a fan.).

When people use such products as Google Docs, an online MS Office replacement (me); Dropbox, an online storage site where you can put a folder on multiple computers for easy access and they all stay synced (me, again); Picasa, an online photo storage site (guilty); Flickr, another online photo storage site (not so much); and other server-side storage sites, they have access to all of their files from any computer and any platform (PC, Mac, Linux, What ev's) because it is stored in the "cloud."

This "cloud" has both advantages and disadvantages.

One advantage is, as mentioned before, the ability to access the files from anywhere without having to carry around an alternative storage device (I use cloud computing but I also have two 4 gig thumb drives on my keyring. I am a geek. It's what I do.).

Another advantage is if you have your important items in the "cloud," if your computer fails, hard drive crashes, it explodes (you never know), your data is readily available when you get a new computer.

Therein lies a disadvantage, if you have all of your important files in the "cloud," and that server fails, crashes, explodes (you never know), you could potentially lose all of your data (just ask some T Mobile Sidekick users. It happened to them a few months ago. Their server didn't perform routine backups. Tisk tisk).

"Cloud computing" may seem like a new idea, however, it has been around for a while. Only recently is it becoming more popular.

So popular in fact, the rumor mill has said Apple may be looking to expand its music service by offering "cloud-base" storage of your music (Lala currently does this to an extent, and they were recently acquired by Apple).

Other companies are looking into "cloud" services as well.

All-in-all, I'm a fan of the "cloud." Life is good in the "cloud." Let's just hope there's not a member of an evil empire waiting in the conference room to capture us, freeze our buddy Han in carbonite, and use us to lure his son to him (Yes, another Star Wars reference. The Empire Strikes Back to be exact.)

What are your thoughts?