Get Your Head in the Clouds

What is Cloud Computing and what the heck does it mean, and how do you get into it?  People have asked me some of these questions and I usually tell them that cloud computing is managing your life in the atmosphere.

Now, before I get going, you should know that I am in the middle of a series on Time Management.  But I realized that I really needed to discuss cloud computing to make some of the concepts that are coming up make sense.  So if you are following that conversation, this is highly relevant!

The Story

There used to be this period in history when people wrote things down on paper.  These barbarians kept file cabinets in the corner of their offices in order to store these ancient documents in case they needed to refer to them again.

Along came computers.  Some people had a hard time moving into this era.  Some of these people, resistant to change, continued to use paper files by using the “print” button in a repeatedly random fashion.  These was no real reason to do this.  With the advent of computers, file cabinets were moved onto the physical drive of the computer.  Thousands more documents could fit there than ever would have made it into all the file cabinets in all the offices in all the world!

Those stubborn folks who kept using the , they just never came to understand the benefits of computer storage files.

Well, they missed out on that wave, and now the computer era is gone as well.

Enter Cloud Computing

You may have heard this term before.  Instead of managing your file cabinet and all your documents on your actual computer, you use the Internet.  All your files are out there in the ether of the world between the worlds.  Your calendar, to do lists, journal, all your documents and spreadsheets.  EVERYTHING, is out there in the world of the Internet.

Now I realize that this might be scary to you.  If this idea frightens you, then, well… keep using the little .

Cars scared people too. Today, their ancestors are called Amish.

So if you want your great grandchildren to speak in a funny accent and carry file cabinets on their backs every where they go while their peers are carrying around a tiny device that takes notes, writes papers, and makes mint mojitos – then you just go ahead and stay afraid.  Otherwise, join the cloud computing era and leave the old world behind.

More on this topic

• Finally getting settled
• Web Hosting Options for Small Businesses (and other folks)
• Five reasons you probably don’t need a Computer
• If You want to be rich – Drop out of School
• Using Todoist Correctly

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