Clearing Up the Cloud

It's the future! It's revolutionary! It's magic! It's time you found out what all the fuss is about by wrapping your head around cloud computing. It could make your business trips more productive.

If you believe the hype, cloud computing will solve the basic technology problem faced by on-the-go workers: Losing productivity because your Jurassic-age computer is a roadblock rather than an enabler. In the cloud, everything "just works," and any computer with a web browser can serve as your primary work tool. Instead of being tethered to one device, your important data and applications can be accessed from anywhere.

At its simplest level, cloud computing is just computing power you can access even though it's located somewhere else. It's not on your laptop, your phone or your iPad. It's in a far away data center, and you get it over the internet. At its broadest definition, cloud computing includes lots of things you've done for years without ever using the word "cloud": web-based e-mail, online banking and more.

So why have techy magazines and know-it-all bloggers spent the last couple years harping on what might sound like hyped jargon? The truth is, the use of web-based services is expanding rapidly and has the potential to make you vastly more productive. To wit, clouds let you view and edit files from any internet-connected device, hold virtual meetings with colleagues through a web browser, and edit documents and presentations simultaneously with co-workers, while seeing each other's changes instantly appear on-screen. In other words, you can work anytime, anywhere with anybody as though you're in the same room.

The phrase "cloud" came into vogue due to a shift from the use of local resources — like your desktop and your company's data center — to remote resources maintained by big names like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM and Apple. We call it the cloud because computer network diagrams have long depicted the internet as a cloud that connects to the key components of a business network. And now, thanks to the spread of lightning-fast internet access and increasingly sophisticated data centers, this form of technology outsourcing is more viable than ever before.

What does this mean for you? If you're like most people, your work PC is loaded with data and applications, and connects to a network that your company built and maintains locally. That may soon change, though. Instead of maintaining their own servers, some businesses are starting to use Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, a giant network that gives businesses access to servers and storage in any shape, size and flavor. Some businesses are offloading the maintenance of e-mail and collaboration services to the likes of Micro-soft and Google. In other words, that daydream you have about smashing your PC tower with a sledgehammer might come true sooner than you thought (but please be sure to recyle the debris with an e-waste specialist... and wear protective goggles). Soon, your "desktop" will not be a physical thing, but a roaming profile that follows you from one device to the next.

"The evolution of cloud technologies has resulted in a blossoming of services that workers can access regardless of time, location or even device," says technology industry analyst Charles King of Pund-IT. Cloud services can be a boon for budget-strapped companies, "since utilizing the cloud typically doesn't require much in the way of training or new skills."

Beyond general purpose services like Google Apps, King points to a variety of specialized cloud applications that have popped up to meet the specific needs of businesses. Mozy is a cloud service that automatically backs up employee PCs and restores them in case of failure or loss. It can also encrypt emails and other files for customers who are concerned about security of information shared in the cloud.

As a user, cloud computing gives you access to a whole host of services that didn't exist years ago. Instead of storing files on a PC, CD or USB drive, you can put them in online file folder Dropbox and access them from any web-enabled device. Music lockers that store your music in the cloud are popping up from Apple, Google and Amazon. Instead of typing up papers and creating presentations in Microsoft Office, you may have already switched to Google Docs, which boasts similar (albeit more limited) functionality in an entirely web-based service. Getting tired of remembering 8 billion passwords for every site you visit? Use a service like 1Password or LastPass to manage all the passwords from one cloud-based location.

The over arching goal is to make your computing resources independent from the devices you carry each day. Losing your PC or phone still won't be any fun, but at least when you get a new one, most of what you need will be waiting for you safe and sound in the cloud.

This sci-fi fever dream hasn't come true yet, of course, and there are caveats that could limit widespread adoption. For businesses, outsourcing computing power and storage means losing some control over data. Using the cloud to store sensitive bits and bytes can present regulatory and security risks. And then there's the question of uptime. When a cloud-based application goes down, you can't bring it back online by rebooting. And if your, er, always reliable internet service provider has a hiccup, your staff could spend the day playing trash can basketball instead of crunching numbers.

Regardless, as a business traveler, there are plenty of ways you should be taking advantage of cloud services today. Hold meetings over web-based videoconferencing; store files in Dropbox or Box.net; use Google Docs to collaborate on presentations with colleagues. For storing snippets, pictures or other files you want to easily access from any device, take notes in Evernote. Just look around at your fellow business class cohorts — savvy travelers are keeping their laptops at home these days, preferring to log onto onboard WiFi with an iPad and Bluetooth keyboard, with many of their applications either operating within a browser or accessing data stored in the cloud.

Are we really ready to trust all of our computing to the cloud? If you ask Google, the answer so far is no. After more than a year on the market, only about 25,000 of its Chrome-books — laptops that do nothing but surf the web using Google's Chrome browser — have sold. This suggests that consumers recognize cloud computing's inherent limitation: What happens when you can't connect to the internet? In-flight wireless and cellular connectivity have made internet access more ubiquitous, to be sure, but sometimes the only clouds in sight are the puffy white kind.

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GREAT MOMENTS IN CLOUD COMPUTING

1991 America Online puts us on the web — sort of 
Shortly after the formation of the World Wide Web, America Online taps us all into it with a functional, easy-to-use browser. At the time, it felt like the future. In reality, it was clunky and limiting (which is why it went out of style).

JANUARY 1993 Mosaic browser popularizes the web
It only lasted a few years, but the Mosaic browser popularized the web by hiring a full-time team of programmers and hackers to make it so stupidly simple that any Joe Shmoe could use it to access the darkest depths of the internet.

JULY 1996 Hotmail brings webmail to the masses 
Still one of the most widely used email services, Hotmail racked up millions of users in its first year of existence, and, in what started a familiar pattern, was quickly bought by Microsoft for $400 million.

SEPTEMBER 1998 Google is founded

You've heard of Google, right? 

OCTOBER 2001 Windows XP establishes its empire
One of the most successful software products in history, Microsoft's Windows XP is the most widely used operating system in the world Bundled with Internet Explorer 6, it's how most of us gain access to the cloud.

AUGUST 2006 Amazon launches Elastic Compute Cloud
Amazon flips the switch on its own cloud, making it possible for developers and businesses to create and deploy applications over the Internet. Now anyone can run applications from an Amazon data center.

FEBRUARY 2007 Google launches business version of Google Apps 
Cloud-based productivity takes a leap forward as Google launches a business-class service combining Gmail, Google Docs and Calendar that gives Microsoft's Office monopoly a run for its money.

SEPTEMBER 2008 Dropbox brings file sharing to the cloud 
Dropbox releases its web-based file hosting service, which lets users upload documents, music and videos to the cloud and access them from any device. We provide an idiot's guide to said service below.

OCTOBER 2010 Microsoft embraces the cloud 
The office software giant unveils a plan to combine Exchange, SharePoint and Office into a cloud-based service — Office 365 — for businesses of all sizes. It went live in the first half of 2011 to generally positive reviews.

JUNE 2011 Google launches the Chromebook 
Google launches the Chromebook, the first laptop to surf the Web while doing absolutely nothing else. So far, they're not selling all too well. It turns out people still want a real operating system.

OCTOBER 2011 Apple launches iCloud 
Apple launches its iCloud service for sharing music and other files across Apple mobile devices, Macs and Windows PCs.

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DROPBOX FOR DUMMIES

I still remember how excited I was the first time I used a USB drive, circa 2004: 256MB of storage, right in the palm of my hand!

But those same USB drives now seem like more of a nuisance than a convenience, because they're only useful if you happen to have them with you (and you never seem to have them when you need them). Nowadays, tech addicts like me use Dropbox, or similar services like Box.net and SugarSync, to access files wherever we need them.

Dropbox is one of the most popular standalone backup client services today. It's not perfect, but as long as you're not using it to store sensitive documents it should do a lot less harm than good.

STEP 1 — GET IT
Go to Dropbox.com, and download the Dropbox client software (hint: it's the great big blue button on the homepage). Open the downloaded file and follow instructions to install Dropbox, a fairly straightforward process on both Windows and Mac.

STEP 2 — SET UP AN ACCOUNT
Now that Dropbox has been installed, open the application. Following the prompts, set up a Dropbox account. After logging in, you'll see your options: 2GB of storage for free, 50GB for $9.99 per month or 100GB for $19.99 per month. Most people will do just fine with the free option, unless you're planning to store a lot of high-resolution photos and videos.

STEP 3 — TRACK IT DOWN
By now, Dropbox has created a special folder in your computer's file manager. If you're on a Windows-based PC, you can find it in Windows Explorer; on a Mac, it's in the Finder.

STEP 4 — PUT YOUR FILES IN THE CLOUD 
Any file you store in the folder (labeled "Dropbox," so it's fairly idiot-proof) will automatically sync with the Dropbox service as long as you have internet access, making it available from any computer's web browser, or just about any smartphone or tablet.

STEP 5 — SHARE FILES WITH OTHERS
 Is there a document or photograph you want to share with a friend or colleague? Just move it into the "Public" sub-folder inside your Dropbox folder. Mouse over the file, right-click, scroll down to Dropbox and then to "Copy public link." Now you can paste the link into an e-mail and send it along.

STEP 6 — PUT BACKUP ON AUTOPILOT
 If you create a lot of documents in certain programs, you may want them to store in Dropbox automatically. For example, in Microsoft Word 2010, you can set your default save location to Dropbox (trust us, it's under the "File" folder). All future documents you create in Word will be saved in Dropbox. Granted, you could just use Google Docs, but a traditional word processor plus Dropbox gives you both a local copy of your files and another available from any internet-connected device.

STEP 7 — SHARE ACROSS DEVICES 
Own a smartphone or tablet? Dropbox has applications for iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry. Go to the app store of your choice, search for Dropbox, install the app and log on. Now, any file you store in Dropbox from your computer will automatically become accessible in the Dropbox app on your smartphone or tablet, and vice versa.  

STEP 8 — BEWARE WHAT YOU SHARE 
Remember how we said Dropbox has had security problems? In June 2011, a "security nightmare" — those were CNN's words — occurred when a code update glitch temporarily let Dropbox site visitors use any random string of characters as a password to log into any account. While the incident only lasted for four hours before Dropbox fixed it, it illustrates the inherent risks of cloud computing. Just in case, it's probably smart to keep your most sensitive documents in a place you trust — and that place may not be Dropbox.