Cloud Computing: What is it and what does it mean to you?

I owe alot to Shelly Palmer. Not only has he been a good friend, colleague, our first NY:MIEG speaker (ever!)  and advisor for many years but his MediaBytes has become a regular stop for information about everything media. In this mornings report Shelly talked about the notion of “Cloud Computing” and it got me to thinking…I sort of know what it is, have heard the term for the past few years but now it seems to be popping up everywhere. And now that the Grand High Exhalted Mystic Ruler of All Things Media is pontificating about it I decided its time to do a bit of reading myself…basically look for the simplest and most understandable definition of the term “Cloud Computing”

After 15-20 minutes of search, looking at everything from PCMagazine, to “Cloud Computing for Dummies,” to “Askville” I finally decided to consult my buddy David Pogue from an article he wrote back in July of this year.

State of the Art
In Sync to Pierce the Cloud
By DAVID POGUE

“Cloud computing” is a white-hot buzzword these days. It basically means working with files and programs that reside on the Internet, beyond your company’s walls – out there in the “cloud.”

Everyday consumers are doing cloud computing, too, maybe without even realizing it. When you use an Internet-based backup service, or Google’s online word processor or spreadsheet, or a Gmail or Yahoo mail account, you’re working with data on a secure Internet server somewhere – not on your hard drive.

Apple is the latest company to find a silver lining in the cloud. Its new MobileMe service ($100 a year) is an overhaul of a suite of Internet features that used to be called .Mac.

Over the years, two million people signed up for .Mac, according to Apple, even though it was a sort of motley, unfocused service.

MobileMe, however, has a much clearer mission that solves a much clearer problem. It’s meant to keep the e-mail, calendars, address books and Web bookmarks on all of your computers – Macs, Windows PCs, iPhones and iPod Touches – synchronized in real time.

It works by storing the master copy of all this information in the cloud. Whenever your machines are online, they connect to the mother ship and update themselves. When you edit an address on your iPhone, you’ll find the same change in Address Book (on your Mac) and Outlook (on your PC). If you send an e-mail reply from your PC at the office, you’ll find it in your Sent Mail folder on the Mac at home.

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY BY DAVID POGUE CLICK HERE