Journey of the Cloud
By: Chelsea Muckerman
Did you realize that the evolution of Cloud Computing started before most of our parents were born? In the 1950’s, time sharing was developed and allowed multiple users to interact with computers simultaneously using mainframe computers. Later, IBM took this idea one step further and began what we now refer to as Software as a Service (SaaS) based on mainframe.
Much, much later, in 1994, Magic Cap was introduced which was an operating system that made use of applications on low-powered handheld devices in communication with a network of computers via a cell phone link. While Magic cap was a short lived, it was this type of thinking that lead to today’s cloud.
Web 2.0 was born in the late 1990’s and in 1999 Salesforce.com was introduced. Salesforce.com was the first mainstream cloud-based SaaS success story and a few years later, in 2002, Amazon introduced Amazon Web Service. In 2006 Amazon launched Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), a commercial web service which was the first widely accessible cloud computing infrastructure service.
The cloud began to affect the younger crowd in 1999 when Napster was founded and really took off in 2004 when Facebook launched and the social media craze began. Twitter jumped on board in 2006, followed by Instagram and Pinterest in 2010.
In 2009 Google launched Google Maps, which is connected to the Google cloud. Being connected to the cloud makes it possible for the software to provide the most up-to-date map data and it also provides live traffic data- which we all know is a huge bonus. Do you ever wonder what life was like before GPS?
2011 was the year that Cloud Computing truly took off and today there are a multitude of cloud computing companies spanning from anti-spam services to social media and GPS. When you check your emails through gmail, share pictures on dropbox or video chat on skype, you are already using a cloud-based software.
Before you read this post, did you realize how often you used the cloud? I sure didn't.
Works Cited:
http://sourcedigit.com/497-timeline-history-of-cloud-computing/
I am in love with the iCloud application for the Apple products. I recently just got the iPhone 5 and had the MacBook and iPad and it saved everything for me! I could just log into my Apple ID and it popped up on my new phone. I'm loving the way cloud computing is going! It's going to make group projects and other computer based products easier!
ReplyDeleteI use google drive every day at work! It keeps my whole team on the same page. Be sure to set up find my iphone... it really works!
ReplyDeleteCloud computing seems to be the way of the future. I am looking forward to more of your posts. I am particularly curious about security, when it comes to cloud computing.
ReplyDelete