What is Cloud Computing?

You may have heard about cloud computing. There’s an ad campaign from Windows 7 where the characters exclaim “To The Cloud!“, a superhero-esque phrase that, when said, saves the day. People in your workplace may make reference to utilizing The Cloud for an upcoming presentation or the sales associate at your local tech store lists being able to access The Cloud as a great feature of your new gadget.

I personally kept hearing about The Cloud but felt too intimidated to ask what this cloud was and why I needed it. I felt embarrassed that everyone else was in The Cloud and I was seemingly the only one not with it. It sounds technical and it can be a rather abstract concept, but once I understood, I realized I had been doing cloud computing for a long time. You probably have been too.

Have you ever sent yourself something via email just so you could access the document or file later at another computer? Do you use Google Products like Google Docs, Google Reader, or Google Calendar? Have you uploaded photos to a photo storing site like Flickr to be able to share with friends and family, as well as to be able to access anytime? If so, you’ve used cloud computing.

Cloud computing is simply the act of utilizing a network, usually the Internet, to store information that you want to access from multiple network devices. No longer do you have to worry that the file you need can only be opened from the hard drive of a single computer. By utilizing “The Cloud,” you can get to any of your uploaded information anywhere you have access to the Internet.

Through network devices like laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones, you can utilize cloud computing to access blogs, documents, chat, email, photos, presentations, calendars, to-do lists, spreadsheets, address books, music, games, bookmarks, and much more.

What is even cooler is that eventually, as you continue to create and add to your personal cloud, your devices will learn about you and will be able to better cater to your needs and wants. This might all sound a bit like science fiction, but this is exactly where we’re headed with cloud computing.

So that is cloud computing. In the future it will play a larger part in our daily lives as it will become a helpful tool in accessing needed resources no matter where we are in the world.

Did you have questions about The Cloud, but were too afraid to ask? Have you been using cloud computing and didn’t know it? Let us know in the comments below.