Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

ABC Nightlife computers: What is cloud computing?

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Paul Wallbank

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Our regular ABC Nightlife radio spot explained cloud computing and had a look at the Sony PlayStation Network security problems.

The tech industry loves nothing more that to baffle us with new terms and one of the biggest terms we’re hearing is cloud computing. Paul and Tony discussed what cloud computing is and what people are using it for.

Aspects covered included;

  • What exactly is cloud computing?
  • Isn’t this just another name for the old mainframe computing systems?
  • What are the benefits of cloud computing?
  • Can you really save huge amounts of money?
  • What are the applications you can use?

A lot of what we discussed is covered in The Connected Business post and we’ve listed some useful cloud computing tools which can be used in the home or office at Ten Business Uses for Cloud Computing.

You can listen to the program’s podcast via the Nightlife website. We promised some of the listeners that we’d get back to them on the following topics;

What is my computer downloading?

Margaret called about her prepaid broadband usage being inconsistent, some days her system downloads more than on other days.

This is probably caused by email downloads and security updates. You shouldn’t avoid the program patches, but you can overcome the email downloading problem by using a webmail service like Hotmail or Gmail.

How do I check my computer is secure?

Two callers, Peter and Katherine, were unsure about how secure their computers are and asked how can they can be sure their systems are safe to use. We’d suggest downloading MalwareBytes and follow our Removing A Trojan instructions however if that’s too complex, it might be worthwhile calling a computer technician.

Viewing new PDF files on an old system

One of the problems with having an older computer is that newer files sometimes can’t be read by them. Rob called in to ask how he can read Adobe PDF files on his older Power PC Apple Mac.

The answer is to use Google Docs and upload the PDF into it as the service can read newer documents. If you’re using Gmail as we discuss above, then files sent with newer attachments will automatically open in the Google reader service.

The next Nightlife program will be on June 16. If you’d like to suggest topics contact us or join the conversation on the night with your on-air questions or comments by phoning 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

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Comments

3 responses to “ABC Nightlife computers: What is cloud computing?”

  1. John Butler

    Hi Paul/listeners/Tony,

    I’m using ZumoDrive as my cloud and have 2Gb of file storage free!!!!

    But I do have some concerns. I’m not confident of their security and I have experienced data loss (MS Access – saved records lost somewhere) and lockups (MS Excel).

    I have 2 desktop PCs – one XP and one Win7 – and one XP laptop. The XP desktop is where the “original” files reside. I have “linked” some folders to ZumoDrive and I find this very convenient. Those where I had important (to me) databases were linked but are no longer!

    I suspect the problem I’m having with data loss is due to some replication – either in their servers or perhaps in the caches on my multiple machines. I’ve discussed this with their IT help folks but all they can say is install the latest version. Doh!

    Anyhow. I guess if it’s free, what more can I say. I’d warn others to carefully monitor valuable (to them) data and resist putting anything of a personal nature up in the clouds.

    I like the way ZumoDrive has client software that mounts the cloud as a logical drive (Z: Drive – what else!) on my PC but this is a problem if you run profiles because the client will try to log on the other profile users to my account. There is a way around this but it requires a bit of tinkering and if users find the executable for ZumoDrive they can still get to my files.

    My recommendation:
    ZumoDrive is acceptable for a home set-up where no one is likely to be snooping but dubious for multi-user PCs or small business unless it was being used for encrypted backups.

    Cheers,
    JohnB, Lalor Park

    Reply
    1. Paul Wallbank

      Thanks for that John, providing a mapped drive makes ZumoDrive a useful feature.

      My guess is the database links failed when one or the other databases couldn’t connect. That’s probably more a limitation of Microsoft Access than ZumoDrive.

      Reply
  2. Robert van Aalst

    Hi Paul,
    I have recently (late last year) taken over the running of a small not for profit government funded regional development agency. When I joined I noticed that the small office (of roughly 3 people) was using a centralised server at least 10 years old. No one in the office new anything about it and the organisation was paying an IT service company $500 per month to maintain it. The centralised server (unix) didn’t even handle the mail server – this was done off site at the IT providers data storage location.
    The first thing I did was to cancel the $6,000 pa contract, updated desk top operating systems (but not all) to Windows 7, turned the energy sucking server off (after copying the data), bought a wireless N router modem for less than $200, a NAS 1GB that plugged directly into the modem/router also for less than $200 and signed up with Google Apps. All our mail now uses that platform, all data is stored in the Google cloud and I am paying less than $500 per annum instead of $6,000 plus. Additionally, I ditched our old style Web Site (Web 0.5) and created a WordPress site, using a consultant designer, for less than $5,000.
    The beauty of cloud computing in an office lies in the sharing of documents and the ability for several people to work simultaneously on the same document. No duplication or version control issues. Additionally, I have several employees that are parents who may occasionally have child caring issues or indeed sick kids to look after. With cloud computing they can log on from home as simply as they can at work. Indeed, I have said to all the staff that if they have no strong need to be in the office I don’t mind them working remotely (two of them live over an hour away).
    I have a few more steps to take though… firstly, convincing one person that Microsoft isn’t the only word processing package that works – mind you it still is far better than Google Docs, or Open office, but I make do with those myself. Secondly, I want to try and transition our accounts from the costly MYOB through to an online Open Source package that can be hosted on Google Apps (similarly for a CMS), and thirdly I would like to ditch our clunky phone system for a VOIP system.
    Whilst I am a strong advocate for Cloud Computing (and the flexibility it brings) and FOSS, I am mindful that it is a journey to bring people along and people often need convincing of the benefits. I am always happy to sing the benefits though!!
    Cheers
    Robert

    Reply

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