What is the cloud and how does it work?
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 6:32 am
In simple terms, the cloud allows you to store and access data and programs over the Internet instead of on your computer's hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet. It dates back to the days of flowcharts and presentations that depicted the Internet's giant server infrastructure as nothing more than a puffy white cluster, accepting connections lebanon phone number list delivering information as it floats around.
To understand how the cloud works, you have to forget about the hard drive. When you store data or run programs from the hard drive, you're using local storage where everything you need is physically close to you, so you can access your data quickly and easily. The computing industry operated for decades off of the hard drive. For some, this system is still superior to the cloud.
Cloud storage is not about having a dedicated network-attached storage (NAS) server or hardware in your home. Storing data on a home or office network is a different thing than using the cloud. We talk about cloud computing when we access data or programs through the Internet, or at least have that data synchronized with other information through the Web.
What are the advantages of the cloud?
By using Google Drive, which has a cloud-based word processor, everything you write is automatically saved to the cloud. There is no need to fiddle with settings to make sure work is saved, or to designate a folder on your computer to store saved content. Cloud-based services, such as Google Drive, allow users to simply enjoy the benefits of technology and trust that the service provider will take care of file storage.
Many cloud computing services are available on-demand and are fairly inexpensive. If your needs vary from month to month, you will pay based on how you change your usage. Traditionally, there was the risk of purchasing an expensive computer network and realizing it was larger than you needed, or perhaps discovering that the setup you had was too small for what you needed to do. Cloud computing makes these scenarios less likely because you can subscribe to most cloud computing services without tying yourself up to long contracts.
To understand how the cloud works, you have to forget about the hard drive. When you store data or run programs from the hard drive, you're using local storage where everything you need is physically close to you, so you can access your data quickly and easily. The computing industry operated for decades off of the hard drive. For some, this system is still superior to the cloud.
Cloud storage is not about having a dedicated network-attached storage (NAS) server or hardware in your home. Storing data on a home or office network is a different thing than using the cloud. We talk about cloud computing when we access data or programs through the Internet, or at least have that data synchronized with other information through the Web.
What are the advantages of the cloud?
By using Google Drive, which has a cloud-based word processor, everything you write is automatically saved to the cloud. There is no need to fiddle with settings to make sure work is saved, or to designate a folder on your computer to store saved content. Cloud-based services, such as Google Drive, allow users to simply enjoy the benefits of technology and trust that the service provider will take care of file storage.
Many cloud computing services are available on-demand and are fairly inexpensive. If your needs vary from month to month, you will pay based on how you change your usage. Traditionally, there was the risk of purchasing an expensive computer network and realizing it was larger than you needed, or perhaps discovering that the setup you had was too small for what you needed to do. Cloud computing makes these scenarios less likely because you can subscribe to most cloud computing services without tying yourself up to long contracts.