Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has become all the rage in recent years. To put it in basic terms, cloud computing is a technological practice that allows for data to be accessed from any location that has a computer and an internet connection. The way this works is, everytime a specific program is opened, it downloads the latest copy of the information that was saved for the particular user I.D. on that set of servers, once the same program is closed, it then uploads a newer version of the same file, presumably with new information. Once this has been done, you can then go to another computer in another part of the world, connect to the same program and you will be able to resume your progress on the same file.


Personally, I think cloud computing is great. It allows me to travel to and from different houses, while allowing me to do the same things, without any complex data transfer procedures. If I had to save files onto an external hard drive or a memory stick, there's a chance that i could loose said data while in transit. where as if it's internet based, then I can just merrily make my way between locations without having to worry about loosing the important information.

I could use google docs as an example of cloud computing, but that's rather uninteresting from my stand point. So i am going to use something that I enjoy as an example. Steam. Steam is a game delivery platform that allows customers to pay and download new games without having to mail order or go to a shop that could be too far away. It only requires an internet connection. Within the last year, Valve, the games company responsible for bringing us Steam has introduced the 'Steam Cloud' which is a way of storing the game save data in a remote server, allowing people to play from many varying locations. I play two games that i know of that utilizes this steam cloud technology. Left 4 Dead 2 (a first person zombie survival game) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I go home on the weekends in order to see family, but when i want to relax and have a little alone time, then I go into my room and play some video games for a couple of hours. Now while I would know where to look in the game files to save it to a memory stick or something similar, not everyone else would. So if they were in the same posistion as me and clound computing wasn't around, then the only way they could play their game is by playing it on the same computer that you started it on. But thanks to cloud computing, it makes it far easier and much more flexible