Tech Talk (08/08)
Cloud Computing - The Future of Personal Computing
by Brian K. Lewis, Ph.D.*
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
You may not have heard of it,
but "Cloud Computing" is the latest buzz-word in computing
circles. The question is, just what does it mean? The problem is that at
this point, there is no really solid definition for this term. You can
search for it and you’ll find a number of interpretations. So, from all
that I have encountered, I’ll try to synthesize one for you.
Cloud computing is being able to access files, data,
programs and services all via the Internet. You would have little or
nothing stored on your computer, in fact, your computer might simply be
a device, desktop or handheld, that can access the web and all of its
services. In addition, cloud computing offers the services of enormous
computer networks that function as if they were components of a
supercomputer. These networks can process tens of trillions of
operations per second compared to three billion operations per second
for the most powerful desktop computer. This kind of computing power can
be used for analysis of risk in financial portfolios, delivering
personalized medical information, and powering immersive computer games.
These networks use hundreds or thousands of network servers using PC
related technology.
I think this excerpt aptly describes the computer
cloud. "What is Google’s cloud? It’s a network made of hundreds of
thousands, or by some estimates 1 million, cheap servers, each not much
more powerful than the PCs we have in our homes. It stores staggering
amounts of data, including numerous copies of the World Wide Web. This
makes search faster, helping ferret out answers to billions of queries
in a fraction of a second. Unlike many traditional supercomputers,
Google’s system never ages. When its individual pieces die, usually
after about three years, engineers pluck them out and replace them with
new, faster boxes. This means the cloud regenerates as it grows, almost
like a living thing." (Quotation is taken from a Business Week
article dated 12-13-2007 by Stephen Baker.)
Although some of these services may appear to be only
of interest for corporations and their IT departments, services are also
being made available for home and small business users. As you might
expect, the availability of this Internet computer access depends on
fast broadband access. An area where the U.S. lags behind many other
countries. In this country we think that having 10-15 megabits/sec on
our broadband is really fast. However, in Japan, 50 megabits/sec is
closer to the norm, even for home users.
So who would be providing these cloud computing
services? Actually, they already exist in the form of Google Apps,
Amazon Elastic Compute (EC2), Sapotek’s Desktop2 (www.desktoptwo.com),
Zim Desk (www.zimdesk.com) and Zoho Office (www.zoho.com). (There are
also a number of companies providing these services and more to large
corporations only.) Sapotek claims to have 175,000 users of their
Desktop2 and their servers can handle 8 – 10,000 of them at the same
time. They have a partnership with Sun that will provide the equipment
to handle as many as 350,000 users. Every time I look for more
information on Cloud Computing I find new companies listed that are
offering these services. It is a very rapidly growing industry.
So, if you wanted to take advantage of the services
in the cloud, what could you expect to find? Let’s take a look at
Desktop2. This is a free service that provides normal office
applications: writer, spreadsheets, presentations, notepad and a
calendar. It also provides hard drive storage, e-mail, instant
messaging, blogs. MP3 player, RSS service and a web site editor. The
free version does come with ads as you would expect.
Zimdesks is very similar to Desktop2. Its web
applications includes pop3email, file manager, sidebar, RSS, browser,
word processor, spreadsheet, calendar, tasks manager,
accessories/widgets, web messenger, video conference, media player,
Internet radio, web TV, games, zimcommunity, zimblog, and much more. It
is also a free service that incorporates advertising. Like everyone else
they have to support themselves somehow.
The third of these services is Zoho Office. On their
home page you not only find a list of the services they provide, they
are all available for trial simply by clicking on a icon. As with the
previous services, the list of applications is quite extensive.
Google Apps is very similar in its offerings to the
preceding services. However, it is more oriented towards business users.
It does have a free version which might be useful for the individual
user.
Zoho uses Java to run its applications on the web.
Other services may use Flash or Java. Either of these allow the
applications to run in your browser and to operate at reasonable speeds.
I have tried out the word processing and found it to be no different
than using a word processor on my computer. This is true even though the
speed of my Internet connection is usually only 500 – 750 kilobits/sec.
When you are using a wireless card modem it is only on very rare
occasions that you can match fast DSL speeds. I’m sure that those of you
on cable or fast DSL would have no problem using a web-based
application, at least with regard to the speed of the applications
response. However, if you are preparing a graphic loaded presentation,
then you might experience some slow down depending on the speed of your
connection.
The idea of relying on Web-based applications and
storing data in the "cloud" of the Internet has long been pushed as a
way to do business on the road. Now software companies are making entire
Web-based operating systems. They present themselves as a complete
computer in the cloud and are aimed at a wider audience. These
browser-based services could help those who can’t afford their own
computer.
There are also those who are convinced that this is
the future of computing. However, some security concerns should be
considered. Unless you know how secure your data is when you use a cloud
system, you should be cautious about what you share with the on-line
servers. You need to know how your data is protected from other users of
the "cloud". As a service provider they should be willing to undergo
external audits and/or security certifications. Also you need to know
what kind of data protection and data recovery procedures are provided.
As has been demonstrated many times, computers do fail. Finally, you
need to know what happens to your data in case the company fails or is
sold to another entity. This is also not uncommon in the high tech
industry. As is always the case, before allowing sensitive information
to be used or stored on the web, remember "caveat emptor".
Lastly, consider what computing might be like should
the "cloud" become the method of choice. Certainly there would be no
need for computers to have all the bells and whistles we now associate
with them. Just think about the possible design of a system destined for
use solely with cloud computing. It would only need a minimal operating
system that would allow the computer to boot, then start the web browser
which would connect to the Internet. Your cloud page would be your home
page and display your chosen desktop. As for a hard drive, a 10 - 20
gigabyte solid state drive would probably be adequate. USB ports for
printers, scanners, possibly other I/O ports would be included. The one
thing you would want to be high end would be the graphics system. This
would allow display of high resolution graphics used in online games and
for viewing videos. It is possible that the graphics processing unit (GPU)
would be more powerful that the CPU (central processing unit) or it
might even incorporate the CPU. This could all be contained in a 1-2
pound laptop or compressed further into a handheld computer/cell phone.
Although some of these characteristics are found now in smart phones,
the spread of cloud computing would enhance the features of these
phones. For most of us, the available screen size on these smart phones
is not large enough, leaving a market opening for inexpensive laptops
such as the ASUS Eee PC or the OLPC (One laptop per child). In neither
case would we need an operating system as massive as Microsoft Windows.
One thing is certain, anytime you try to predict the
future, you usually miss the mark by a mile. So it will be interesting
to see what reality brings about over the next few years.
*Dr. Lewis is a former university and medical school professor of physiology. He has been working with personal computers for over thirty years, developing software and assembling systems. He can be reached at bwsail at yahoo.com.
Return to Brian
Lewis' Index
Return to
Columnist's Index
Copyright 2008. This article is from the
August 2008 issue of the
Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota
Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL
34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit
computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and
our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication
the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For
further information about our group, email:
admin@spcug.org// Web:
http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members
and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User
Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are
members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
See http://www.spcug.org for all reviews from the Sarasota PC
Monitor, go to the Newsletter Section.