By now most people are familiar with the them of "The Cloud", but in case you are not here is a quick definition. The name "Cloud" comes from the diagram image of the Internet commonly represented by a cloud (see above). The Cloud is anything that is in the Internet. Your pictures on Facebook are in the Cloud, if you use a web based email service (Gmail, Hotmail, Rogers, Sympatico), your email is in the Cloud. Every webpage you see is in the Cloud. The Cloud isn't new, basically the Internet is the Cloud.

More recently the trend is to start putting everything you have in the Cloud instead of, or in addition to, what you have on your hard drive. All the major players are encouraging this. Google with Google Drive, Microsoft with SkyDrive, and Apple with iCloud. I use SkyDrive to store documents, Google to store my pictures (through their Picasa service) and I back up all my data using an online service (CrashPlan and Carbonite) - all these services are in the Cloud.

I, like a lot of people, were wary of the Cloud. What happens to all my data if the company disappears or goes bankrupt? Is it secure? Why isn't better just to keep everything on my personal computer?
The first two questions are easy:
1) Google, Microsoft and Apple aren't going anywhere. The tech sector is pretty stable in these tough economic times and the main players are well established. Those who might not be able to survive on their own are quickly bought by a major player.
2) There is always some chance of security being breached, but the big three (Google, Microsoft, Apple) haven't had a major loss of personal data and companies like Carbonite concentrate wholly on security since that is their only job - keep your data safe. The best thing you can do to ensure all your online data is safe is to be proactive about it yourself. Don't rely entirely on even the best companies to make sure your account is secure. I know you've probably read it before, but it's up to you to make sure your password is a secure and safe one. Don't use your pets names or your address or other simple things and don't use the same password for every website account you have. At the very least use capitals, numbers and symbols in your password and also try to change your password on a regular basis. If you want to check the strength of your password go to the Microsoft Password Checker.

Still on the topic of security another Cloud service is use is LastPass.com. You can sign up for this free service to keep track of all your passwords. This service will encourage you to start using different passwords because you don't have to keep remembering them all. It will also generate passwords for you which are very hard to break (and very hard to remember). You just have to make sure you use a VERY strong password that you'll never forget as your master password for LastPass.com. I love this service and subscribe to the premium service just to show my supprt.

Now the big question: Why use the Cloud at all?
I understand that using the Cloud isn't necessary for a lot of people. If you just have one computer, don't use your computer for much more than surfing and email, don't own a tablet or smart phone, or don't have access to affordable high-speed Internet then you probably don't need to be using the Cloud. If you do have more than one computer, a tablet, smartphone, refer to person files (documents, pictures, music) a lot then you should really start using the Cloud to make your life easier and get the most out of your devices.

Here are a few examples from my own use (business and personal).
Calendar and Contacts: I use Google for both my contacts and calendar which both myself and my wife share. The beauty of this is that all our computers (desktop/laptop), smartphones (Windows Phone 7 and Android), and tablet (Android Nexus 7) are always in sync. At any time from any device (or any web browser) no matter where we are we can both look up a contact, add an appointment, check each others schedules, add a new phone number. Any changes one person makes is instantly reflected on every device. It's invaluable whether it's just you or a group of people. As I mentioned I share my account with my wife, but if you don't want your whole life shared it's easy enough to link two Google accounts and select what you want to share on your calendar. Unfortunately a third-party app is needed to sync contacts between Google accounts.

Music: I am adamantly against music piracy and I haven't bought a music CD in years. I get all my music streamed to me from the Cloud. For a pretty low price of $10 a month I have access to millions and millions of songs through Microsoft Zune Music (soon to be renamed Xbox Music). I can stream all these songs to any of my computers, through my Xbox to my outdoor speaker, or on my Windows Phone. There are other similar services out there like Rdio.com that work on Android devices and set top devices like the Roku. I'm still amazed Apple hasn't rolled out a service like this.

Books: I worked in the book industry for over 10 years and actually have a traditional library in my house full of books. Like music CD's I haven't bought a physical book in years. Both my wife and I have an Amazon Kindle. With these we have instant access to all the books we have bought through Amazon. We can also access them all through our PC's, smartphones and tablets. Again, all of these are stored on Amazon's server not our own devices. We can't lose them or accidently delete them.

Instant Access to Files: While I don't usually have a need to access files from my mobile devices, it is nice to know that by using Google Drive, Windows SkyDrive (the service I use), or even Carbonite I can access any file I have from any device or web browser from wherever I am. For my pictures I use Google's Picasa service - they have a desktop and web app which makes it very easy to view all the pictures you have.

Ease of Configuring New Devices: I already had all these Cloud services in place when I received my Google Tablet, the Nexus 7. There is nothing more amazing than getting a completely new device, logging in with your Gmail account and instantly seeing all your contacts, contacts, and pictures on your brand new device. Add in a couple other apps and you easily have access to all your files as well. This goes for almost any mobile device.

Consistency of Files, Services, Look & Feel: When you use the Cloud to do all this you are basically using one service to manage each task so when you use that service from another device it's all the same in terms of use and content. There is no learning curve on how to do things. Adding a contact on your tablet is almost the exact same as doing it on your PC or phone. If you use Google Chrome then your favorites and recent browser history is synced automatically. I'm still amazed how it all works so seamlessly.

No Need for Lots of Local Storage: One of the most common questions people have when buying a new device (PC, laptop, smartphone, tablet) is "How many Gigs does it have?" The thinking is to get as much as possible. When faced with a 8, 16, 32, or 64GB phone or tablet people gravitate towards the upper end. When I bought my last laptop 3 years ago I intentionally got the smallest hard drive possible to force me to start using the Cloud. When I bought my Nexus 7 tablet I had a choice of 8GB or for an extra $50 the 16GB. I bought the 8GB, the same as my phone. The only thing that should be on that 8GB are apps. If you plan on downloading hundreds of apps the 16GB might be worth it, but I found that I usually only use a handful of apps. So with my "measly" 8GB I have instant access to all my email, 18GB of pictures, 42GB of music, and how ever many GB of other files. Because all of this data is in the cloud there is no need to have a ton of storage on each device. Gone are the days of having to load up with a bunch of hard drives to store all your stuff. For a small price (or no price at all) you can have it all stored somewhere else with the added benefit of knowing that it's all secure and backed up. If all my computers were stolen or destroyed today, I could be up an running with new hardware in a few hours with all my data intact.

Windows 8 Computers and Tablets
You may have noticed that I use a lot of the Google services, but being a Microsoft guy I also use many of their services (email through Outlook.com, SkyDrive for storing files) and with Windows 8 coming out shortly I anticipate using even more. Windows 8 will be very tightly integrated with the Cloud. You log into Windows 8 with your Microsoft Account (Microsoft email hotmail.com, live.com, live.ca, or outlook.com) and password. Just like when I logged into my Nexus, Windows will automatically bring in all your information (files from Skydrive, email, etc.). One really exciting thing is that any changes you make to the order or look of your icons on one machine are instantly updated on any other Windows 8 device you log into. Imagine having your computer set up just how you like it. Your email icon is here, your Word shortcut is there, your weather app is over there. Now you go to your laptop and it's the exact same. You get a Windows Surface Tablet, log in for the first time and it looks the exact same as your desktop PC and laptop. Even Internet Explorer has all the same bookmarks.

Conclusion
When computing first started there were huge servers the size of refrigerators and small client computers with little processing power or storage that would hook up to them. Then came the age of personal computing when we all had computers that were self contained and have all the processing power and storage they needed. Now we've come full circle where we are again going to be using less powerful devices to access everything we need. This is the trend and nothing is stopping it. It just keeps progressing this way and who knows where we'll be 10 years from now.
All of these Cloud services are dependent on affordable high-speed Internet. I live in a rural area where many of my clients don't have access to affordable high-speed - Rogers and Bell just do not offer cable or DSL service. Some people use the expensive 3G/4G modems. Others can't even get a decent cell signal are forced to used a dial-up connection (beee-booo-eeeeee-sssssss-eeeeee-ahhhhhhh). For those of you who used dial-up in the past let me tell you it's even MORE painful than you remember. I can actually see property values being higher or lower depending on the availability of affordable high-speed Internet. I know we passed on many beautiful homes because high-speed wasn't available. Now with Cloud services really taking over I can see this becoming an important factor for even casual computer users.

If you haven't already started to embrace the Cloud now would be the time to start. I can guarantee that it's going to make your life that much easier going forward.