Longtime readers of my articles may know I’ve never been a huge fan of the cloud. After years of rebelling against files being out of my control, my opinion has swayed. Although there’s still no substitute for localized backups, the cloud is a great way for people to collaborate.
Way back when I was in college, group projects usually meant passing a floppy disk from person to person until the project was complete. Looking back, the whole process was dreadful because it usually meant venturing out during a snow storm or running around at the last minute. One missed step meant missing a project deadline.
At this point I should probably let you in on my change of heart. I am currently using an outside contractor to assist with the manufacturing and design of some prototype furniture. Because I don’t own the tool I need, I’m collaborating with someone in the cloud through CAD software. He has instantaneous access with full editing privileges.
My generation really pounded home the whole notion of teamwork but we were almost ahead of our time. Technology and the cloud trumped our idea of what teamwork should be and handed us a refined teamwork model with the name “collaboration.” The main difference between models is our version required people actually interfacing.
At work we’ve been using the cloud for a while without actually calling it “the cloud” so it doesn’t scare me. Because my stores are spread apart my team doesn’t have an easy way to communicate and share information. Google Drive to the rescue. I gave in to the idea that our ability to share information instantly makes us a better team.
Kids today are brought up using the cloud for collaborative projects. Students are typically given Chromebooks they can use to access files and projects in the cloud. Unlike my day of group projects, today’s youth can work on projects simultaneously even if they’re miles apart. Those involved in the project can watch their group members annotate a document in real time.
A whole generation is growing up not knowing anything other than the cloud. I thought it was odd when parents were bringing in their kid’s computer and it had literally no data. Kids today are using the cloud for everything. As today’s youth finds their way into careers they will bring the processes they’ve learned with them.
With the good comes the bad and this is especially true with this technology. Cloud storage is fine for documents that don’t require a ton of space. I can’t imagine every picture I take or every one of my music files being uploaded and downloaded when I want to use them. Programs like Photoshop that generate huge amounts of data would take forever to function.
Internet connections are required for the cloud. It’s almost a no-brainer that in order for the cloud to work we have to be continuously connected. Software companies have been designing the ability to either work in the cloud or locally. The CAD software I’m using, for example, automatically stores files locally and in the cloud.
Being completely in the cloud is in the very near future as companies like Google and Microsoft make applications like Office available online. When and if that day comes it won’t matter what computer we use to connect because everything we do will be a click away. Future generations will never know what it’s like to trudge through a foot of snow to deliver a floppy disk in a Ziploc bag. For that matter, they may never experience human contact.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can read past articles at www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)