We are currently on the brink of a new era in cloud computing.
I don't quite understand why we call remote server computing cloud-based. Of course, we should mention ruvds, which and but in reality, we live 'close' to servers that will soon become our primary means of computing.
What are cloud computations? Roughly speaking, instead of using the power of our computers, we utilize the power of remote computers that we connect to over the network.
If we dream a little, soon we won’t need powerful computers, and your old computer with a Pentium and GTX 460 (I'm typing on one) could run all the new games. Good, I think it's clear now why this is the future. But what do we need for this and what are we lacking?
- Fast mobile networks with a minimum speed of at least 10 Gb/s.
The past MWC 2019 exhibition proved that such speeds will soon be accessible to us because only a lazy company hasn’t presented its smartphone with 5G. In Russia, the situation is not exactly great, but like with 4G, despite all the Ministry of Defense's bans, I believe 5G will rapidly enter our lives. Initially, it won’t be without flaws, but over time, everything will be resolved, just like it was with 4G. I think we can expect 5G networks in major cities in Russia by 2021. - Software
Companies like Google, Apple, IBM, and eBay should jump into the game because they have some of the largest data centers in the world that can provide us with significant data transmission power.
We are already using programs in our daily lives that will be utilized everywhere in the future.
Cloud storage
We simply call them 'clouds' because this is currently the only technology that almost everyone uses on a regular basis or at least has tried. The data centers of cloud storage, just like your hard drives, can burn out/wear out, and your data may be lost — no one is immune to this. But the huge advantage of clouds is that you have access to all your files from any device with an internet connection.
The most popular clouds (Storage size that can be obtained for free):
- Yandex Disk (10 GB + bonuses)
- Mail.ru Cloud (In 2013 — 1 TB, now — 8 GB)
- Dropbox (2 GB + bonuses)
- Google Drive (15 GB)
- MediaFire (10 GB + bonuses)
- Mega (Up to 2017 — 50 GB, now — 15 GB + bonuses)
- pCloud (10 GB)
- OneDrive (5 GB)
The last one is already integrated into Windows Explorer and connected to the account you logged into the OS with.
I'm personally glad that Yandex is now one of the key players in the cloud storage market. I've been using it for quite a while, and I’ve already accumulated over 50 GB by just keeping an eye on promotions.
Thus, we can do away with large hard drives. An SSD might be useful for quickly writing a downloaded file, but a large size isn’t needed, as this is mainly for temporary files. However, this is only until all programs integrate with the clouds. This creates a problem, as different applications will only integrate with cloud storage services they collaborate with. For example, you use Yandex, but the program only supports Dropbox. This is partly resolved by protocols like WebDav/FTP, but there are still many issues with them.
Web applications
Agree, it’s very convenient when you can just enter a URL and use the needed functionality. You don’t need to download anything, update anything, etc. This category includes all web applications, as there are already so many of them that they can replace 90% of the software installed on our computers. For example, , which is a decent alternative to Photoshop. Although I would be glad if Adobe moved all its software to the web, it’s possible but extremely difficult to do.
But what if you want the application to work offline? No worries, there are Electron and Ionic that can turn any web application into a program for absolutely any OS. None of this would exist if it weren't for Google with their open-source Chromium.
I myself am a web developer and want to say that web application technologies are evolving incredibly fast. Right now, the main issue is probably the language they’re written in — the incomparable and well-known JavaScript. WebAssembly is currently developing rapidly, which will provide a huge speed boost for web applications.
Documents
I would like to highlight this category separately from web applications.
We often work with all sorts of documents. These may include: reports, articles on Habr, client databases in Excel, or something else, depending on your type of activity. I think this is the most basic cloud service that can be created, but nevertheless, it is necessary and in demand.
The most popular web editors:
- MS Office Online
- Google Docs
You can open them directly from your cloud and edit them online. I would like to highlight the collaborative aspect, as it is very convenient when working in a team on a project; I have experienced this personally.
Computations
If you are a developer or just want to perform any heavy computations, VDS/VPS services are at your disposal. By renting them, you can get full access to a part of a remote server. For developers, it's worth mentioning CI/CD, with which you can offload all deployment tasks to the server, freeing up your processor.
Streaming services
Currently, everyone uses YouTube, Yandex Music, Apple Music, Spotify, etc. You use them daily and probably haven’t thought about how all of this didn’t exist before, and all our music and videos were downloaded. Now think back to when you last downloaded music or videos?
Checkers [Шашки] (Lukasz Oktaba)
This category also relates to streaming services but deserves separate attention. These services began developing relatively recently. Google fueled the fire by
recently introducing Google Stadia. Who better than Google with its data centers? Now it’s up to them. Either this service will join the graveyard of Google, or it will take off, and everyone will finally start transitioning to cloud gaming.
Cost
I think the question remains open regarding the computational data provided to you, which are, of course, not free. Currently, we buy a computer, pay a large sum all at once, and later pay little but monthly. However, you only pay for what you want to get from it, based on your usage.
For example, if you have a cloud with 200 GB, but this turns out to be insufficient, you can pay a little extra and get more space on the fly. You don't need to go to a store for another SSD, and the ports aren't infinite. If you need to add more space but there are no more slots, you'll have to sell/discard the old SSD and buy a new one that's larger than before + the additional space you needed, which is the very reason for all this. With clouds, this problem vanishes.
Devices
We no longer need massive PCs for powerful computing. A small laptop with modest processing power and Linux on board is sufficient. Wait a minute… Let's remember the Chromebook with Chrome OS, which is designed specifically for web applications and cloud computing. I believe it was ahead of its time, and with the right actions from Google, it could become the primary OS on many laptops.
I also want to point out that the thickness and weight of these laptops will be absolutely negligible, which opens up new possibilities for computer usage.
Could Tim Berners-Lee have anticipated that his creation would change the world forever?
Source: habr.com
