It is my understanding that Cloud computing basically is about storing all your files in a few centralized data centers around the World rather than on your own computer. There are going to be different kinds of clouds such as public cloud , private cloud , and hybrid cloud , the good thing is that as the consumer you don’t need to know how all those clouds work (that’s for the cloud people to know ) you just need to know what services are available through the Cloud that relate to your business so that you can download the right apps that allow you to use those services. You don’t have to worry about getting larger and larger hard drives every year because your files are not going to be kept on your computer anymore and you won’t need to constantly update and upgrade your version of the software because everyone can access the same software that is being kept in the Cloud. Another major advantage is that once you save something on one device the same data will automatically show up on all your other devices. So soon you can say goodbye to all those bulky computers and start living in the Cloud.


More info:

http://cloudcomputingexpo.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

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I must admit I don't like the idea of the cloud. I think that it is important to back up your important files, but I don't like the idea of trusting them to some 3rd party cloud.

I think you end up giving up a lot of privacy by using the cloud and I'm pretty sure that the government is going to be very interested in it's contents.

Cloud is at its infancy right now, privacy, security, and many other issues have to be resolved before it can be widely accepted, but it seems to be the next logical step in computing evolution. You might not personally like the Cloud and might decide not to use it, but keep in mind that most companies and institutions that you might be dealing with such as your bank, hospital, or your favorite search engine is probably going to switch to the Cloud in the near future (if not already).

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As a long time IT person I know what cloud computing is and think one should be careful how it's used. I personally like controlling my own data. In this new technology / Internet based world, data is power and I like to hang on to my own data when possible.

Security is a whole different issue and I know things get hacked a lot more than we hear about. So just consider your liability if information about your client you are responsible for gets into someone else's hands. If you were the one who placed it into the cloud, you are probably going to be libel.

Now for things like photos and such it's probably fine but just be concerned about documents with private information on them.

Of course we all use some of the 'cloud' and have been for many years. This would be email as everything you send is stored on a server for a certain period of time and can be intercepted by hackers who know what they are doing. So security is a fickle beast today in our modern world.

There are also the environmental advantages of switching to the Cloud that are best explained in this graph:



Source (I am not affiliated with this company)

I remember being taught back in 1983 that the English system would become obsolete and replaced by the Metric system. Actually I wish that would have happened as metrics are a lot easier but English is still here...30 years later. lol

Well if you are comparing the metric system to the Cloud then its important to realize that the metric system has been adopted as the International standard and is now being used by almost all scientists, physicist, and engineers around the World without us the ordinary people having to know that much about it. In the same way Cloud is going to be used by almost all the larger Companies and Institutions without us having to know about it or having to deal with it directly ourselves, but nevertheless the information that those Companies and Institutions have about people are going to be stored in the Cloud so in a way its going to affect everyone.

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This isn't exactly using the cloud, but Dropbox has been a huge timesaver for us. Images, flyers, and non-sensitive documents are easy to share.

Another great Cloud tool that we are using is Manymoon productivity software. It's similar to Basecamp, but is less expensive. You, colleagues and assistants can be given tasks - one time or recurring (a feature NOT available in Basecamp), documents and links can be shared, and a lot more.

Question if anyone knows - is Top Producer 'in the cloud' or is it on some server somewhere?

I think there are some advantages to having offsite storage of documents, and my local internet provider offers the service...for a fee. My worry would be...miss a payment...all your data goes bye bye.

Currently only a handful of companies are providing true Cloud services. As far as any specific businesses using those services you probably need to contact their IT department to know how much of their computing needs are being outsourced to the Cloud (if any).

In the near future businesses might have the option to use private Clouds for storing sensitive data, and to use public Clouds for handling the less sensitive files, it might take a few more months before all the data portability issues between the Clouds are resolved, but from the looks of it eventually everyone will be in the Clouds to one extent or the other, it just makes economical sense especially after all the security and stability issues are resolved.

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My understanding is that in a true Cloud data will never be lost, now if you don’t pay your fees to the intermediary companies (like your ISP) then you might lose access to your data through them, but the data will remain in the Cloud pretty much forever. We are talking about huge storage capabilities here, that’s why they call it the Cloud and not just a server.

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As a former Sys Admin, it can be lost. A good system has multiple backups but it's only as good as the people running it..

And yes it's only good for as long as you pay. You quit paying and it gets deleted. System space is not free.

You shouldn’t think of the Cloud by what has been, but more by what will be in the near future. The next generation data centers that are currently under construction will have such immense storage capacity that every person on the planet might be able to get a few terabytes of storage for free (one terabyte is equal to 1012 megabytes). Those who are running the Clouds are not going to make the bulk of their money by charging for storing data, but more from providing access to that data in the way of bandwidth and other services that are used by consumers. When the big Clouds are finally here there will be minimal human involvement in the operation of those Clouds so its not as if someone is sitting there trying to decide what part of your data needs to be deleted, it will cost more to do that than just keeping that data since the cost of storing the data will be insignificant when those super data centers are put into operation.

Off course this is just my opinion based on my own research and should not be looked at as fact (at least not yet ).

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The deleting (archiving) of files is done automatically by software and has been in place for years, I was in charge of that at some of my jobs. Every time we setup a new server with tons of disk space we'd always say we'll never fill this up. The first such server in the early 90's had 500 megabytes and was considered to have tons of room. There will always a finite amount of space.

I'm not debating whether the Cloud is good or bad. Just understand its a new buzzword to package services that have been around for a long time. If some new company sells you Cloud services, make sure and find out what happens to your data if they go bankrupt, the data center is hit by an earthquake, etc. The Cloud is not magic, it's just 1s & 0s and electricity and YOUR clients data.