Before we discuss why cloud computing matters, let's go back to what cloud computing actually means. Many people still think of the "cloud" in the context of outsourcing essential tools and services to traditional on premise IT deployments. This would mean that your software would all move to the cloud for the duration of your subscription, which is truly amazing now that Office 365 is available in 50 countries and counting (but still mostly in the US). While it's amazing that your computer always has the latest version of Office installed, this practice is not very sustainable for the future.

Taking that analogy further, it is not uncommon in the IT industry for large providers to standardize a full suite of services under one convenient cloud-based service as a "bundle". It's this bundle that's pretty much the same as the old, on premise bundle, but with the benefits of the cloud reflected in the price and the implementation of these new services. Cloud, more and more, gets remodeled to fit the world expect it to aid and shape as social and mobile infrastructure becomes more important.

For example, the French mobile carriers currently use Intel ads into their own data plans, which makes for an excellent option for users who prefer to avoid the fee practices now so prevalent in the US. For many things, this will be the future of cloud computing until otherwise monitored regulations disagree or because IT becomes quaint and smells funky, i.e., some policies keep changing. The adoption of services not only evolves from place to place and therefore question depending on technology, but also reflects infrastructure lessons learned from different use insitudes and much like billing and support, fully commoditizing the cloud offers a way to keep developing your IT workforce and capturing new areas in scale. Check out this chart.

As the Big Data revolution continues to proliferate, many find it to be a new source of income. Whether it's analytics that are useful for business or ad networks making money on clients' activities post Facebook, data are blazing a trail for an intuitive, efficient and categorizable computing environment. With Apple leading the charge it seems logical that Google might be pushing expensive reservations in coming generations to push consumers further into its tent.

As with Amazon, Google offers customers not only the ability to run queries, but also its cloud infrastructure to manage use by disparate machines. Its Data Lake, or Google Cloud Machine Interfaces allow services to be called up via URIs. This interacts with the cloud from any machine —, i.e., no matter how old you are. Inevitably this means that far more than ever before, Google services sit inline on your laptop, rather than requiring expensive leasing or other infrastructure. The technology is not yet mature but even venture-capital TV is making a lot
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