shigamoto - 4:20 pm on Dec 18, 2007 (gmt 0)

Cloud computing will probably be more frequent in the future, but is it a threat to Microsoft? I would never trust my business data to Google, Microsoft or any other party.

So I guess most business stuff is out of the question when it comes to cloud computing, unless if you develop smaller clouds within your own organization. But the difference would be nominal compared to what most businesses already do today through LAN and corporate networks.

In the business segment I think that applications like Microsoft Sharepoint and Office will evolve and be the standard. Adobe are doing some interesting stuff in this area as well. When it comes to the consumer market and maybe schools who knows what will happen.

However the large chunk of Microsofts cash comes from businesses and government use. Also Microsoft has positioned themselves towards cloud computing with their Live-services, so it's not like they are totally lagging.

Another thing I have against Cloud computing is the fact that when I am offline I do want access to my online files, yes I know that Google Gears will take care of it but why should I have to use a third party app to do what I want? Google has no OS but Microsoft has, thereby the company could create such a built in app.