There was no razzle-dazzle Las Vegas launch, no surprise announcement in San
Francisco. But last week Google, the world’s fastest-growing internet group,
launched the latest phase of a concept that may have a bigger effect on
computing and the mobile phone than Microsoft’s new Vista operating system
and Apple’s iPhone.
“Cloud computing” breaks the bonds that tie us to our desks, our PCs and
laptops, and gives us the ability to access and work on files any time,
anywhere, in the diffuse atmosphere of cyberspace. Instead of having a
whirring machine packed with software programs and a hard drive on which
data is stored, the web itself turns into your computer. Applications such
as word processing, spreadsheets, calendars, contacts and email can be
accessed, with data stored securely on remote servers.
The concept is not new — Hotmail was one of the first ventures to show the
benefits of having information “out there” — and companies including
Microsoft, Apple and Yahoo! have flirted with web word processing, but
Google has taken a huge step into the future by combining the most used
applications in a one-stop shop.
What are the advantages? There is no need to spend £200 on a shrink-wrapped
box of new software that takes the rest of the day to set up on your PC. The
service is free to anyone with broadband internet who opens a Gmail account
(Google’s webmail service, similar to Hotmail) which until last week was
available only by recommendation from a friend.
Because the software programs operate online, files can be worked on by as
many people as choose to share access. They can view each other’s edits and
see all previous versions of a document. There is no need to back up work
because it is saved every few minutes on the servers. Storage is free for
regular users, but those who want to store thousands of large files, such as
very high-resolution images in Picasa photo galleries, will pay a small fee.
Travellers will welcome the flexibility of cloud computing. You don’t need to
own the hardware any more, or take a laptop on a business trip. Go to an
overseas branch of an office or an internet cafe, go online, enter your user
name and password and your personalised homepage will appear with all your
email, contacts, text documents, spreadsheets and photographs. Google plans
to introduce mobile phone-based access to all such applications soon.
That, at least, is the theory, but does it work in practice? For the past few
months I’ve been trying cloud computing on the move. Computer geeks like to
say that, with every successful new technology, there is a “wow moment” when
the techno-penny drops and a newcomer becomes a convert. Mine came at
11.53pm on Friday December 15. I was in a hotel in Hong Kong writing a
feature for The Sunday Times when my IBM ThinkPad finally gave out after one
foreign assignment too many.
A computer crash is bad enough at the best of times. On deadline, abroad, late
at night, it is a journalist’s nightmare. But this time it was little more
than a temporary inconvenience. I headed to the nearest 24-hour internet
cafe, near the Kowloon Star ferry terminal, logged on and within minutes my
story, all the telephone numbers of the contacts I needed and even my
appointments for the next day were on the screen in front of me. Apart from
my surroundings, nothing had changed. I filed my story on time.
So far, so Web 2.0. But how good are the software packages? They perform well
enough for personal use but large businesses will require more storage space
than Google is offering.
Docs, the word processing package now released in UK English, is simple but
effective. It has an easy-to-navigate toolbar for choosing fonts and you can
give files a name and multiple labels to make them easy to find. You can
search every file for keywords or phrases. Files can be saved in all major
formats and sent as Gmail attachments.
The spreadsheets seem as good as Excel or Lotus 1-2-3, with the usual
automatic addition functions. The shared calendar is particularly good for
groups, such as families or businesses, because everyone can see what the
others are doing and when.
The new Gmail-friendly mobile phones can be configured for “push” Gmail, which
arrives at the phone all the time, or “pull” email, for people who prefer to
log on periodically to check their inbox.
Cloud computing is not without frustration. It is, of course, subject to the
vagaries of the net: service is only as good and as fast as your internet
connection, and no service at all means work stops. Transferring files
created by nonGoogle software to the internet programs is hard. I ended up
transferring most of my Microsoft files and contacts manually. Storage space
is an issue, too. Google guarantees users 1,000 word files. I have already
generated almost 500.
The mobile application works best for those who simply want to check Gmail and
send short replies. Downloading attachments of photos, PDF files and
Microsoft Word files is slow and fiddly on all but the most modern
Java-enabled phones with the biggest screens. If you’re a serious fan of
email on the go you’ll almost certainly stick to a BlackBerry.
Working entirely online raises issues surrounding privacy, security and
viruses. Google points out that the system is username and password
protected and insists that it offers customers the same level of protection
as its own staff. Google employees, including senior executives, use cloud
computing.
You may worry about losing your data if, say, Mountain View, Google
headquarters in California, were destroyed by fire or natural disaster.
Google insists that your data are held on servers in several locations, so
information can never be lost.
The group makes money by analysing key words entered into its search engine
and targeting the searcher with advertising. This will inevitably raise
fears that the firm will now “data-mine” people’s documents to target them
with ads via Gmail. But Google insists it will never examine the contents of
files.
So can man live by Google alone? Will cloud computing become as popular as the
Google search engine? After a few months as a techno guinea pig, I think it
will — for individuals and small businesses. The problems I encountered,
while frustrating, are in truth niggles that are likely to be ironed out
soon. I think web-based applications represent the biggest step forward in
personal computing since Microsoft launched Windows.
To access cloud computing, open a Googlemail account at www.googlemail.com
To access Googlemail from your phone go to: www.gmail.com/app
or www.googlemail.com/app
Document and spreadsheet applications now in UK English are available at: docs.google.com
