Computer applications float in Internet cloud

Tag : computer

When Merlin Mann is on the go and needs to access his computerinformation he steps into the cloud. Mann, a 41-year-old technologyblogger, is one of thousands of Americans who are shunning packagedsoftware in favor of programs served up as services available onthe Internet.
Technology titans including Microsoft, Google, Apple and Yahoo arepart of what has become known as the "cloud computing" movementincreasingly popular with users such as Mann, who lives here andwrites the blog 43folders.com.
Salesforce.com is a cloud computing poster child, reporting at themid-point of the year that it is on pace to become the firstsoftware-as-a-service (SaaS) firm to top a billion US dollars inannual revenues.
"Our second quarter performance is a milestone for Salesforce.com,and for the cloud computing industry," chief executive Marc Benioffsaid after releasing earnings figures in August.
Technology companies and computer enthusiasts alike have long beentrying to achieve a nirvana of having access to informationanywhere and at any time, unchaining themselves from machines attheir homes or offices.
Speedy computer chips, cheap prices for memory, "smart" mobiledevices, and high-speed Internet connections have made thattechno-paradise possible.
People already commonly use cloud computing in the form ofWeb-based email services, social networking profiles andphoto-sharing websites such as Yahoo-owned Flickr.
MySpace Music that launched Thursday lets users keep songs "in thecloud" and stream them to any computer linked to the Internet.
Cloud computing appeals to users because it relieves them of havingto buy, install and maintain software programs, which are insteadhosted on computer servers updated and guarded by Internet firms.
Some are leery of cloud computing because it puts control ofcherished data in the hands of companies that run the servers,raising questions about privacy and what happens when there arehardware or Internet problems.
"You don't know where your data is really being stored," DannyO'Brien of the Internet rights group Electronic Frontier Foundationtold AFP.
"In the old days when you were working on a Word document, you knewit was on your computer. Who do you want to have control over thatinformation?"
Internet companies riding the cloud computing wave believe peopleare surrendering those apprehensions as technology and onlineservices become more common and tightly woven into their lives.
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook have forgedtechnologies allowing users access to information virtuallyanywhere in the world with an Internet connection.
"There was a lot of skepticism when webmail started coming out,saying they were too simple and didn't have the same features asdesktop applications," Google Collaborative ApplicationsEngineering director Sam Schillace told AFP.
"But they completely overshadowed the desktop market becausethey're easy to use, and they're fast."
Schillace describes Google's success with online applications suchas Docs and Spreadsheets as paralleling advances in Web browsers.
"The Web browser as a platform is just starting to come out as acredible application platform," Shillace said.
"Now you have the confidence that you can sit down at any computerthat will let you access your data in any way."
In June of this year, Google released a Google Gears applicationthat allows users to access, update and queue changes in GoogleDocuments, Spreadsheets and Mail without an Internet connection.
When those applications reconnect to the Internet theyautomatically synchronize changes with data stored online.
In July, Apple released a MobileMe suite of online applicationsthat let users update calendars, address books, and access filesfrom either their iPhone or computer.
Changes are synched automatically whenever an Internet connectionis present.
Microsoft recently released Live Mesh, which allows people toaccess their home computers or a series of machines from anywhereon the Internet, essentially giving them mobile control ofnetworks.
Cloud computing has had its stumbles.
Amazon's S3 web service broke earlier this year, leaving thousandsof users, small businesses, and even the New York Times' archiveswithout access to their data.
After Apple's MobileMe subscription-based online applicationsservice launched in July it was vexed by bugs that needed fixing.
In the middle of August, Google's free Web-based GMail wasinaccessible for nearly four hours.
"It's the price of doing everything on the Internet right now,"said author Paul Bausch, co-founder of the Internet firm Blogger,which was bought by Google.
"Just like spam is the price of using email, they're just things wehave to put up with."
© 2008 AFP
This story is sourced direct from an overseas news agency as anadditional service to readers. Spelling follows North Americanusage, along with foreign currency and measurement units.