Cloud Computing Takes Us Into The Future of Technology, Chrome OS Leads The Way

In the future, computers could be distributed via a monthly subscription and the hardware and software update could become history. Users could access data from anywhere, viruses could be completely eliminated and the destruction of a computer would no longer mean that all the data has been lost. These scenarios have become possible when the Chrome OS was released, but things might be more complicated than this.

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Online users are essential for Google because the company’s revenues come preponderantly from online advertisement; therefore the more people use the Internet and Google’s services, the better. Google is trying to keep its dominant position in a very crowded market and an Internet-based OS is just the right strategy to achieve this. But what is Chrome OS and how is it different from other solutions offered by Microsoft or Apple, not to mention Linux?

The Chrome OS is part of a new technological wave called cloud computing. In this system, the computer that a person uses to access a service becomes irrelevant, because all the storing and data processing takes place on a server sometimes located thousands of kilometers away. Instead of using a complex interface, with directory structures and complicated menus, Chrome OS will almost entirely be based on an Internet browser. Instead of starting a program, users will only need to open a new Internet page in which the respective program will run.

Chrome OS could not exist without the current and the future Internet connection speeds considering the huge amount of data users access and increase every day. Moreover, computers and operating systems will be available based on a subscription, which is a whole different system compared to the current one.

Google will provide full services for a certain monthly fee and users will no longer have to worry that their OS and computer are too old. As soon as a model has reached its limits, it will be replaced with a newer version. This type of subscription has been first launched in the US and it costs $28 per month or $336 per year.

Google also promises that users will get rid of all those bugging problems that gradually affect all computers such as viruses, low reliability, long starting time, mediocre performance, etc.

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People can use low performance systems, such as the Chromebooks notebooks to run advanced functions thanks to the Internet architecture. This concept could be a relief for app developers because such a system could, at least theoretically, eliminate piracy. A central server runs all the apps and people pay to run them, thus other less legal alternatives will simply disappear.

Apart from app using possibilities, another important matter is file storage. We all have at least a few GBs stored on our PCs: documents, photos, music files, videos etc. In the cloud computing version, all information is stored on „informatics clouds” generated by the company’s servers (Google).

Here are the advantages of such a method: files can be accessed from any place where Internet connection is available, the storage capacity is no longer an issue and theoretically, data cannot be damaged by viruses nor can it be physically destroyed since data is stored on several additional  backups. Users can actually destroy their computers and yet not lose a single information bit.

Potential disadvantages also exist. First of all, there is the confidentiality matter: many Internet users are already worried about how much information Google or Facebook know about them and others obstinately refuse to reveal any further personal information.  And then there is the hypothetical information disaster: what happens if the data stored on the servers somehow gets compromised?

Other classic data storage methods offer data retrieving possibilities, although they are expensive and complicated, but in the cloud computing world, an information disaster could be impossible to fix. Moreover, users could be affected by malfunctions for which they are not to blame and this might make certain people think twice before using cloud computing. For example, a few months ago, Google users noticed that thousands of messages were missing from their inboxes. It is true, the messaged went missing just for a short period and the issue was eventually solved but what if this won’t always be the case?

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Professional programs cannot run in the cloud for the time being since they cannot be implemented in a cloud computing system yet. A Chromebook might be a good choice for the regular user but a video specialist won’t even think about using Chromebook. Google is not trying to conquer the professional market for now and prefers to limit its offer to simpler apps.

Maybe the most obvious issue for cloud computing is the fragile Internet infrastructure: what happens if users need to access a file stored in the cloud but the Internet connection is not available?  The 3G/ 4G are not diffused that much so as to make cloud computing a truly viable solution.

Cloud computing and especially the services provided by Google on the Chrome OS platform, with all their advantages and disadvantages, will continue to headline the IT news in the future. If the concept proves to be successful, some other important technology giants could join the cloud computing movement and maybe this will revolutionize the manner in which people perceive and use computers.