I've been writing a lot about cloud technology in general, as of late. And the thing that most readers tend to wonder is: "Isn't "cloud" just a euphemism for "the internet" in a way?" Well, in a way, yes. But on the whole and on bulk, I'd have to say no. And here's why.
"The internet" is the network itself; it's raw; it's HTTP; it's TCP; it's a network-with the servers, routers [huge servers and routers] that collectively make up this thing we refer to as the internet. And via "this collective", we connect to webpages, websites, and other technologies and services. Ultimately, though, the internet is like a super duper phone line-nothing more. And what can you do with just a phone line? Nothing really, and that's just the point.
What do you need to make things happen with this phone line? Well, for one, you need a phone. You can think of a really simple rotary or touch tone phone as a really simply web browser. With it, you can call out to other phone lines, automated phone menus, other people, etc. This is the same way that the internet works; with a simple web browser you can call out to other webpages, or you can log into simple infrastructure, such as your banking network or a simple social network.
But these days, people don't only want to engage in simple, straight forward calls; they want to collaborate; they want to engage each other; they want to meet new people; they want to do business. And in order to accomplish these things, you need to have a more sophisticated conglomerate of technologies behind you-but not just you, the people, companies, and things that you want to interact with need to be sophisticated as well.
See, a simple network of mere webpages doesn't necessarily make for a "cloud." An open source encyclopedia in which a collective or community contribute to, wouldn't make for a cloud. A cloud is a situation of tightly defined and accepted roles by both parties-the user and the server or service provider-. With a social networking site, roles are defined by the community by members voicing their opinions, and developers on the server side incorporating those opinions and voices.
The cloud also implies automation-so called smart technology. It's fine if a service performs a specific and incredibly sophisticated operation for you, but if that service requires you to manually run it each and every time-or rather program its settings for it to run properly, each and every time-then that's just a mere service; it's not a cloud service.
When people read "cloud service," they expect automation; they expect that service to work smoothly, efficiently, and in the background.
I've been writing a lot of introductions to the cloud on the blog, http://www.cloudstorage.us/. If you'd like more information on cloud technologies and trends in this space, check the blog out.
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