Mobile Ministry Magazine

I had an editorial/article posted at Brighthand that also has some merit here in terms of getting a bit of an understanding as to where computing is going. The subject is called "cloud computing" and is usually characterized by applications, data, or some combination of both being stored on a network and accessible through the Internet (wired or wireless connection). While many in corporate settings might be familiar with this, other than email, most people are not aware of some of the positives and negatives, nor of the types of cloud computing options.

This article is more of an overview than something very technical. But especially for parents, teachers, and those in IT settings, you will want to understand this so that you can use and point those under your influence in a direction that speaks towards their needs, moreso than towards the market's desires.

Here is a snippet:

A term being bantered about a good deal since Apple's iPhone 3G release has been that of "cloud computing." Essentially cloud computing is when the data that you work with -- contacts, bookmarks, email, calendaring, etc. -- is accessible though an Internet connection and with several devices.

There are three ways of taking advantage of this idea of cloud computing: data completely in the cloud, local applications that utilize some data in the clouds with some local, and being your own cloud where you provide the local data from your device to a service.

Read the rest of The Three States of Cloud Computing at Brighthand.

Labels: communication, community, information technology, Internet, software, tech