Cloud Computing

I  don't want to boast that I'm a visionary or anything, but I really do think that cloud computing is the way to go, and I think most companies will be using it by this time five years from now (or less). And I think they'll be subscribing to clouds, not hosting their own. And to be honest (no disrespect for the work Google has done to pioneer the way), I think that people will have clients on their local machines that, when launched, log into their cloud account (rather than being browser-based services).


I use Evernote on Windows at work and Mac at home, and my iPod is synced to it. I use Dropbox, ZumoDrive and MobileMe, as well; all platforms are synced. So much easier than logging into Gmail on my browser, or Google Docs, though I am using those services as well, across all platforms. Yes, I have synced my iCal info with Google Calendars - or tried, more accurately. I was able to sync only one of my three calendars; the other two got errors.


Anyone new to this technology will go into this discussion asking, "What's in this for me? What's the compelling reason for change? What we have is working and, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' You're suggesting I fix something that isn't broken."

I think that he, she or they are going to have to start using the convenience of cloud services before really seeing the benefit. 

I think most people see only a remote access solution (Citrix, VPN) as cloud service. That's fine, as far as it goes. But it doesn't come close to the "thin-client" model I think will have to be put into place for people to really see the benefit.

Anyway - just a random observation as I have been looking at the last week at a cloud services model for a local organization. My guess is that I'm just seeing the tip of the iceberg. I predict you'll see this take off in the next year or so and will become a predominant model in the next five.