Google Released “Google Cloud Connect” Today

Today, Google took their MS Office plugin out of BETA and release Google Cloud Connect (GCC), a way to easily share and edit documents real-time with others. The video on their announcement is very compelling.  From their blog:" It adds simultaneous collaboration, revision history, cloud sync, unique URLs and simple sharing to the Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint applications."

Cloud Connect is a very smooth move by Google as a way to demonstrate the power of real-time collaboration without leaving the coveted Microsoft Office Environment.  Check out the announcement. By using GCC, users gain many of the advantages of using Google Docs without leaving MS Office. I'll write more when I have a chance to try it out.

Big Cloud growth predicted in 2011

According to a Infoworld article on IT hiring slowing due to cloud growth they say IDC is forecasting that public cloud services revenue in the U.S. will grow nearly 24 percent, from $14.2 billion in 2010 to $17.6 billion in 2011.  In addition in the Hackett Group survey, IT firms were asked to rank their strategic priorities, and cloud computing ranked No. 4 this year, with 59 percent respondents citing it as a priority. Last year, cloud was ranked 10th out of 11, with only 27 percent of respondents identifying it as a critical priority.

Using the "Power" of Cloud Computing with Evernote

Evernote.com is another great example of a powerful cloud computing application that has many of the benefits of cloud computing. I use Evernote to drop items into a notebook that I need to be able to access from anywhere, (iPhone or any web connected computer). Being able to access information from anywhere and via any device is a key benefit to cloud computing. The real power Evernote brings to the table, in my opinion, is OCR, making everything I upload searchable. Then I thought, why not scan in all the paper that I keep (bills, etc) and put it into Evernote. What would happen?

Update (2/21/11): After using Evernote for about a year, I've updated this article with my discoveries and experiences.  Also added new features in iPhone app released on 3/1/2011 at bottom.

A Lesson in License Cost Risk In The Cloud

I came across something recently that places a black mark on cloud computing in general.  In January of 2011, MOZY, a network backup provider, significantly changed their pricing.  In fact, it’s so significant (and just a bit strange) that some MOZY customers will see renewed billing that can be double or 10s of times higher than they were paying.  MOZY’s unlimited storage for backup was just $6/month but when MOZY discontinued the unlimited plan and put a 50GB cap on that price plan, users with 100s of gigabytes of backed up data are now looking for a new home (or deciding to pay a lot more).