"Your path to the cloud" (Microsoft ad)

A lot of the software which was presented the last months was already a part of cloud computing but nobody ever wrote about cloud computing itself.

Good examples for cloud computing:
GoogleDocs, already posted by Gytis,or Dropbox which means in the context of cloud computing, that you're able to access your uploaded documents or pictures from whenever you are on the Internet. Also Google waves is a cloud computing item, Aleksis posted.

However cloud computing gets more and more important as we can already notice while reading the mentioned software on our blogs.

In general cloud computing means that no longer user are hosting their data, soft- or hardware. Everything is within a so called "cloud". Which actually means that a service is hosting your data online. So from where ever you are (for instance on a different PC) you will be able to get your data if you have internet access.

Cloud computing doesn't automatically mean that it is groupware, too. Data storing or Software which can be delivered in the cloud is not obviously groupware. Also online calendars and address books aren't collaboratives. But nevertheless a big part of cloud computing supports collaboration, communication and coordination.

The CeBit a popular German trade show which was opened on Monday in Hannover is this year called „Work and Life with the Cloud“. What shows the importance of cloud computing nowadays. „Cloud Computing is the megatrend in the high-tech sector. It will cause drastic changes in the ITK-branch“, BITKOM-president Prof. Dr. August-Wilhelm Scheer pointed out.
For the trade show a research about cloud computing is published which shows how fast it'll grow in the next four years. The research by BITKOM (German society for Information economy, Telecommunications and new Media)says that the market for cloud computing will grow 55 % this year to 3.5 billion and until 2015 even up to 13 billion.
It was interesting to read that in five years almost half of the Internet users will also pay for cloud-computing devices what is at the moment not imaginable. All the devices probably a lot of us are using at the moment are for free, aren't they?
Already every third person is using the cloud already, a lot person without even knowing it, BITKOM mentions.

The cloud computing is not only more handy for the use of our everyday documents, calendars or e-mails how I already emphasized. It is also a way of organization what the "cloud" is offering and within that a lot more groupware devices which can be set up in the cloud.
Also software can be used out of a cloud what makes it cheaper for the user to have always new software because you're just paying the time you're using the program.
Writing this blog entry I noticed how much I'm using the cloud. Listening to music, for my e-mails, my documents, pictures and I already felt in love with the "cloud".

Looking forward to get more of those.