Technology Evolution: I’ll never look at clouds the same way again.
If you’re like many, it may be baffling to think of how quickly technology has evolved in a matter of only a few years. What was once a bulky computer screen with a floppy drive (yes, I said floppy drive) is now thousands of times more powerful, and it fits in the palm of our hands. Smartphone… anyone?
From Atari to the iPad
It’s no surprise that we’re witnessing an evolutionary change in how we use technology in everyday life. My Android Phone has become such an integral part of my everyday life that it’s difficult to imagine how effective I’d be without it. Simple items that once had only one function now have an entire list of new features and uses: IE bluray players, xbox360, PS3, mp3 players, and phones. Atari didn’t exactly allow me to check my Facebook in between Pole Position races, partially because Internet wasn’t around back then, but that’s beside the point. Today’s systems allow for all types of Internet-based functionality including YouTube streaming, Facebook updating, on-demand Netflix movie viewing and the possibilities just keep coming.
Today’s consumers have changed as much as the products we use. With each passing decade, a new chapter is written in the technology-based world we’ve grown accustomed to. When I think back to even the past two years, I can recall a trend change from Laptops to Netbooks to Tablets. When the iPad originally launched a year ago, many were asking if the world was ready for this. As Apple predicted, consumers have found hundreds of ways to use tablets for something their everyday computer couldn’t quite handle as efficiently. Anymore, we require lightning speed Internet connections, quick access to online apps and instant gratification when it comes to finding any sort of information. If a web page doesn’t load in a matter of moments, we move on. It’s hard to believe that less than 15 years ago, the average person was on AOL dial-up Internet and probably had enough time to brew a pot of coffee before many simple webpages would load.
Small Businesses Are Looking For Their Cloud
In the IT industry, it’s always interesting to witness how small businesses translate technology advances into their daily operations. The move to Cloud-based computing is at the core of many 2011 start-up businesses. So many of our existing clients who have been around the block are asking if this if something they should be interested in and why. So let’s start with the first question:
What is Cloud Computing?
In a nutshell, cloud computing is a system of storing information virtually and users can tap into whatever section of that information they have rights to from any computer, mobile phone or Internet connection from anywhere in the world. Specifically for businesses, these are the advantages:
- All data is stored in a secure place virtually.
- Employees are able to access their information from any computer, mobile phone, etc.
- Offices across the world can share the same cloud, and employees can all access the same information company-wide.
- Data does not weigh down each individual computer’s storage space.
- Computer crashes do not lead to lost data.
- Sharing documents across the cloud is easy and trouble free, and allows collaboration to happen instantly and effectively.
Technology in the Near Future
Chrome OS is set to launch in the coming year. This operating system lives in the cloud and stouts its ability that you can do most things “online” that you can do on a normal operating system. Chrome OS will bring about an age of computing that could revolutionize how we use our PCs in everyday life.
As always, whatever technology brings in the future will be fascinating to witness. We can safely say that 5-10 years from now, we’ll probably all be relying on something for our everyday lives that today, most of us can’t even imagine. Can we say Minority Report Style computer interfaces?
Great article! My team is located all over the country, so we rely on cloud computing to keep everyone connected. It’s a huge advancement over the previous options.