Cloud Computing - Using Software on the Internet
Cloud computing means using software that is installed on the Internet. You can also save your work on another computer instead of the hard drive of your own PC or laptop. Music, letters, presentations and other projects can be stored on clouds, data storage areas on giant servers on the Internet.
There are many so-called web applications that can do the same as normal desktop software. Google Documents, for example, gives you a text editor, a slide show application and a program for creating tables and diagrams. You can use these programs for free – from any computer all over the world.
Up to now web browsers were only used to search for information on the Internet and show it. But now they have become something like operating systems which can give you almost everything that you have on your own PC desktop.
Cloud computing can also be a cheaper than buying expensive software. Many basic applications on the net are free, but you may have to pay to use some of the more complex programs. Companies do not have to buy expensive software licenses for all their workers and computers do not have to be better and more powerful all the time because all you need is a simple web browser, like the Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Cloud computing allows people from different parts of the world to work on a project together. Teachers and pupils, for example, might work on the same text together. Companies around the world can work together on a single computer and do not have to send data back and forth.
There are, however, some things that make computer users skeptical. One of the big problems is security. With cloud computing, you give your data to someone else. Users are also worried that they might lose their data on other computers. In any case, cloud computing is marching forward and in a few years we may only be having a web browser running on our PCs.
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Words:
- application = computer software made to do certain things
- back and forth = from one computer to another one that is far away
- basic = main, important
- complex = here: with many different parts
- create = make
- data = information that can be stored on a PC
- desktop = the main area on your computer where you can find small icons to click on
- giant = very big
- however = but
- in any case = whatever happens
- instead of = and not
- license = permission to use computer software
- operating system = a system in a computer that helps all the programs work together
- save = keep, store
- search = look for
- security = safety , protection of data
- single = only one
- storage area = here: hard disks on network computers on which you can store your data
- store = keep, save