page 22 2014 TECHNOLOGY TODAY LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com September 30, 2014
storage. Don’t put anything
important or embarrassing in your
Cloud Storage. [Note the number
of recent public personalities --
Kim Kardashian, Hope Solo and
Jennifer Lawrence -- who recently
had their Apple icloud storage
hacked and their nude photos of
themselves stolen.]
2.
Cloud based backup
This refers to a service on the
internet that allows you to backup
your entire computer or selected
files to prevent data loss in case
your computer is lost, fails or is
damaged. Services like Carbonite
charge a nominal monthly fee for
keeping your data safe. Carbonite
and the other services come with
a user-friendly backup/restore
interface for choosing which files
to backup or restore.
Upside:
If your home or business
burns down or your computer is
stolen, your files are safe because
whatever you have backed up is in
another location somewhere on the
planet. You can choose what you
want to restore when you want to
restore it.
Downside:
Restoring is generally
slow. Since your data is on the
internet, it is vulnerable just like
any information placed in cloud
storage. If the internet is slow
or down, you can’t get to your
backups.
3.
Cloud based applications
This refers to programs that you
might normally run locally on
your computer or your local area
network that you can now access
and run in the cloud. Google
apps is a good example of Cloud
Based Applications. In addition
to email and calendar, Google
apps includes word processing,
spreadsheet and other applications
comparable to Microsoft Office
that you access in the cloud rather
than on your computer. Data can
be stored either locally on your
computer or in the cloud. Other
software companies like Adobe
are now marketing access to their
famous Design Suite software
such as Photoshop, Illustrator,
Dreamweaver and Adobe Acrobat
in the cloud (Adobe Creative
Cloud).
Upside:
In the short term, you
may spend less money in a lump
using Cloud Based Applications
instead of buying the programs and
installing them on your computer
(complete Adobe Creative Cloud
is $49.99 per month per user while
their Creative Design Software is
$2,499. You don’t usually need as
powerful a computer running cloud
based applications as you might
need if you were running programs
such as Photoshop installed on
your computer. You don’t need
to pay for important upgrades to
programs because the upgrades
are done in the cloud and included
in the service. Your data can be
usually be saved locally or in cloud
based storage.
Downside:
When you don’t have
internet, you can’t access Cloud
Based Applications. The short
term savings goes away when you
use the Cloud Based Application on
a long-term basis. And, since your
data is often saved in the cloud, it
can either be hacked or corrupted
when the cloud based storage fails.
4.
Cloud based computing
Cloud based computing is different
from cloud based applications.
There are companies that are
providing the ability to put all of
your programs and your data on
their server that you would usually
locate on your own server and
run them in the cloud rather than
at your location. Many small to
medium businesses use this in case
their premises would be destroyed
such as by fire, earthquake or
other disaster, so they are not out
of business. Everything that these
businesses would normally do
locally can be done in the cloud.
Upside:
Your business activities
don’t come to a screeching halt
just because you suffer from some
natural or un-natural disaster.
Downside:
Often the data centers
where you might locate your Cloud
Based Computing suffer the same
regional natural disaster that your
affects your business. The cost to
do Cloud Based Computing
may make it impractical to
implement. It takes expensive fast
connections to the internet to do
Cloud Based Computing. Cloud
based computing centers may also
become the victims of hackers or
outages.
Summary:
Technically speaking
everything we do on the internet
is “in the cloud,” but this specific
term refers to services that internet
companies want to market to you.
They may be practical solutions to
your computing needs. Approach
them with caution, investigate the
companies before you sign on the
line, and have copies of your data
backed up somewhere else as well
as in the cloud.
Story by Jim Youngquist
