The most concise guide to cloud computing Getting started must read (multiple graphs)

What is cloud computing?

In fact, the Cloud (cloud) on behalf of the Internet (Internet), through the network computing power, instead of using the software you originally installed on your own computer, or to replace the original you put the information on your own hard drive, you turn to the network to do all kinds of work, and storage files in the network It's a huge virtual space. We use the network services, the data stored in the network server, and through the browser to browse these services Web pages, using the above interface for a variety of calculations and work.

Guess what? You're in the clouds, actually.

web-based E-mail services like Hotmail or Yahoo are the first hot forms of cloud computing. If you use Facebook to interact with friends, use Flickr to store photos, or send emails with Google Gmail, you're already storing your own data in a cloud environment, and using cloud based technology, the magic behind the news story.

Cloud Surfing (Cloud surfing)

It's like no matter where you see the sky, you can connect to the cloud services you need, even if you're not on your own computer, anywhere you can access the Web.

Into the Clouds

The success of netbooks (netbook) and the Rise of mobile networks (such as Internet handsets) have made cloud computing more pervasive, and one machine is a good engine of growth for cloud computing. Netbooks and mobile phones are often defined as lower-performance computing devices, so they consume less power and have a considerable degree of portability.

A netbook may not be able to run the fat Photoshop software smoothly, or can not store a large number of music documents. But thanks to cloud computing, netbooks do not need these capabilities, they need only a browser and network connectivity so they can listen to a lot of music, process photos online, or send emails to other contacts on the cloud.

So, if all you need is a file, maybe it needs some basic formatting, and you don't need the full computing power of Microsoft Word, you just need to log on to Google Docs to get a similar effect.

In cloud computing, the server doesn't care how much computing power your computer has. Some colleagues use a PC in the office to connect Google Docs, at home with Apple MacBook, and many other services can be done via your phone or apps on your iphone and Android phone.

Multi-person collaborative operation of cloud computing

You can log on to any computer and use cloud services, and a friend or co-worker can log in and work with you on the same file. Google Docs is just an office-style cloud computing service that works together. Some services can even allow people to log in at different locations around the world and work on the same files at the same time.

Cloud computing may sound great, but it's a bit of a worry, and it's something you have to think about when you use it. As the open source camp celebrity Richard Stallman points out, your information is in the hands of third-party vendors and is outside your control.

Is it safe in the clouds?

The most likely problem is security, and few companies will want to steal your information and make shameless web design, but it is best to look at various web sites and Web services and recommend them to trusted experts, such as Lifehacker or your humble servant, the tech maniac.

Even if a website's reputation for service is trustworthy, or a technical problem may arise, this year, Google Docs due to equipment failure caused by private data leakage, such as online music streaming services Spotify may become those who want to steal user data hackers target.

Cloud Security

Fortunately, a little bit of common sense and some simple, correct computer practices can minimize the impact of such security lapses, avoid putting your confidential information on the cloud, and if you really do, such as using an online bank, avoid a public computer in the Internet Café, school or library, Also don't give yourself real contact information, avoid each account to use the same password, even if only change a letter.

Cloud mismatch

The second major problem with cloud computing is the possibility of a temporary failure that will prevent you from using a service you may put the information on a website and the site is unable to access for a certain period of time because of server malfunction, Twitter is notorious for occasional hangs, and every time its website hangs, it appears with a "Falling whale" pattern, What's worse, you may lose all the information.

Clouds disappear

The worst and worst case scenario is when you want to search your information on the cloud and find it "cloudless", which is good if you want to have a picnic, but if the company that keeps the information for you suddenly shut down, it's going to be a bad thing.

Last year Linkup and the blog platform Journalspace this happened. It may be safer to choose a real big company, such as Google, but Northern Rock, Woolworths, UBS and all of Iceland's customers may have thought so.

Even if a company is operating normally, it may opt to shut down a service, such as Google's recent announcement to turn off the Google Notebook service, which provides Notepad, but the network is resilient. Evernote, which provides similar services, will immediately release a tool to transplant your data from Google.

Too many Clouds.

If you haven't backed up your data, you should really start backing up. If you don't buxinxie, use itunes, but if you buxinxie and start backing up the data, keep it up ... Think about how long it takes to run all the CDS (if you still have them), not to mention the CDs you borrowed or the MP3 you bought.

Imagine waking up in the morning and seeing that they're all gone, at least you still have music to listen to, but if it's your birthday or your wedding or a picture of a tractor in a Japanese bathrobe in Sweden, that might be a good thing.

If you want to avoid data loss, combining the physical backup with the cloud-based backup provided by the online service is the minimum measure, when your external hard drive breaks down or your house burns down, a backup from the cloud will come in handy, and a backup on your hard drive is useful when a server in the online service breaks down or the website goes bankrupt.

Sending data through the clouds

These are the basic tips for using cloud computing, whether you're already on the cloud, everything on the web, or you don't trust the clouds, you can't give them the information you depend on for a living, and you can leave a message to share your thoughts.