Category Archives: cloud computing

Google to deliver “cloud storage” solution?

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Spotted a post on Lifehacker today concerning a possible future service from Google. A reader has spotted an option in the recently released Picasa for Mac beta to “move photo to Google Web Drive”. Mmmm…interesting.

Now I’ve already taken advantage of my Gmail space, using that as an online storage container – those interested in doing the same might be interested in the Firefox extension but Google Web Drive might just be more of an ‘official’, more focused service from Google…which would make sense as it’s an area you would think Google is perfectly placed for.

Strange thing is that I can’t actually see the option in my menus on Picasa for Mac, which is – incidentally – an application that I love. I always liked using it in my Windows days and am very happy to see it finally touchdown for Mac. So I would certainly recommend it to others.

Can we copy and move your data?

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I’ve just watched an interesting presentation by Chris Adie, University of Edinburgh, at this year’s Eduserv Foundation Symposium. His topic was Web 2.0: Managing the risks

One of the risks is Data Protection and while all of the things spoken about were relevant and of interest this one particularly stood out a couple of hours later when I went to login to Yahoo (to check out the new 3rd party apps they have integrated apparently). I entered my password and was taken to the following page:

Yahoo alert page

Yahoo alert page

Firstly I’m being asked if it’s ok for Yahoo to copy my information to one of their servers in .

Thanks for that…one of your servers where, exactly? If it’s mainly personal stuff I use Yahoo for (I don’t as it happens, I hardly use it at all) then do I care and should I have to care where my information is stored? What if you’re dealing with files that could possibly have institutional IPR issues attached and start to bring the issue of confidentiality onto the main stage?

Secondly the links at the bottom for Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy made me think of another point Chris raised about just how many people actually bother to click on and read these things. It has huge potential to get hugely messy doesn’t it. Of course the situation above has arisen in my personal online life, while The Cloud at institutional level would require a much tighter approach and considerations to be taken by management at various levels.

These issues will be getting looked at by the CETIS Working Group in Cloud Computing much more closely and, engaging with institutional staff currently having to face this subject we will be working toward producing a briefing paper around it and a public dissemination event toward mid ’09.

More news will appear here as we go along. Meanwhile any and all pointers to existing, relevant resources would be most welcome!

Cloud Options: Amazon, Google & Microsoft

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Cloud Computing (or my preferred term, Utility Computing) is probably my main area of interest right now – I think mobile technology is a close second though. The issue of educational institutions moving away from providing masses of storage, email services, expensive applications, etc. and toward a hosted setup is something I can see happening…just not sure when.

The topic is starting to get talked about more and more though and, unsurprisingly, it can lead to a bit of a mess of ideas. Cloud Computing, SaaS (Software as a Service), Shared Services, Outsourcing…it can – and does – seem to be getting lumped together in one box and I think that’s down to audience perhaps. When I think of this area I’m not thinking about payroll systems and other administrative areas but the interface between institution and student. Institutions creating email accounts for students and then having to setup and maintain the servers. Same goes for data storage…as students take increasing advantage of images, audio and video just how much of a hole does that burn into an institution’s budget when it comes to having the space for it all? Does a student care where their data is physically stored or their email is provided from? Should they? All questions that will be addressed over the coming months as part of the CETIS Working Group.

So, to the title of this post – I came upon (in a roundabout way, as you do in the Blogosphere) this rather helpful overview of the current Cloud offerings of ‘The Big 3′ on the blog of a guy called Scott Watermasysk. In it Scott gives a high-level comparison of the services in the Cloud that are being offered by Amazon, Google and Microsoft and his personal take on these.

I think for those people that are starting to look at this area and fancy an easily digestible introduction to what the current state of play is (not exhaustive, no, but a start) then this blog post ticks the box. Then all we have to do is dig further down to include the operators outside of these 3 and tease out the issues specific to education…dead easy! ;)

Scott’s blog post is at http://simpable.com/software/cloud-options/

Microsoft Office Web Apps not exclusive to Windows or IE

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Well…Microsoft are ready to splash into the Web Apps water with their Office suite and the early, good news is that they have confirmed (and reiterated) that it won’t be tied to either Windows or Internet Explorer (Hurrah!!).

Thanks to it supporting Firefox and Safari (Opera anyone?), Office Web Applications will also run on Linux and the iPhone. Let’s face it, they had little choice really did they. Given their fear of Google they really have to entice people away from Google Docs and placing proprietary restrictions on the applications wouldn’t really have been a good starting place now would it!

On that point though, Microsoft still hasn’t stated whether there will be a free version, although it’s been said that the apps will be part of ‘Office Live’ which will come in both free and subscription flavours…so I think it’s fairly safe to assume that there will be a free-to-use option.

Apparently they also won’t be forcing Silverlight on users, its rival to Adobe Flash. Microsoft’s Sarah Perez, claimed on her blog that, “Silverlight is not required. Using Silverlight will enhance the user experience, resulting in
sharper images and improved rendering. Also, the Office Live Workspace
has integrated Silverlight technology into the multi-file upload
function for a better experience.”

So…interesting stuff. Now we have to wait for the technical preview.