Running head: CLOUD COMPUTING THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY 1

Cloud Computing The Future of Technology

Spartak Goskolli
Hodges University







ENG 1101
Professor Boozer
April 9, 2013

CLOUD COMPUTING THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY 2
Cloud Computing The Future of Technology
With technology becoming increasingly better each day, people are presented with much
more respectable opportunities to enhance their daily life. Cloud computing is taking the
technology world by storm! Businesses, civilians, and even the government are only beginning
to benefit from it. Cloud computing will change the world for the better by increasing
employment possibilities, utilization of applications, as well as freedom, productivity, and even
security.
First, with the innovation of cloud computing, the IT industry is becoming even more
predominant. Jerome states that cloud technologies are generating occupations worldwide as
more companies, government agencies, and other institutions are monitoring and magnifying the
trend (2013). Jerome has a very good point. The formation of any new technology brings about
the need for individuals to maintain, repair, as well as install these new innovations. Microsoft
recently conducted an examination on cloud computing and came to the conclusion that 54% of
IT directors and commanders said they are currently employing as a result of the creation of
cloud computing (Jerome, 2013). However accurate this statement may be, Dignan disagrees.
Dignan states that as more companies adopt cloud storage and virtual interfaces through the
cloud, the need for human workforce diminishes in order to increase profits. Businesses will
soon commence with the utilization of cloud computing and may recline employees that are
maintaining their current systems in order to save on the expense of salaries and benefits the
employees reap in each year (2013). Although what Dignan states is correct, the savings from
cloud computing do not come from labor. For example, an average business exhausts around
$107 on labor each month for traditional storage, compared to $207 using Amazons cloud
storage. The cost of cloud storage is calculated to be low due to the minuscule amount of
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hardware needed to operate, not the amount of money that can be saved from the benefits and
salaries of laid off employees (Jerome, 2013). The creation of cloud computing will augment the
amount of opportunities for employment in the IT industry, even though various establishments
may make the mistake of dismissing their staff.
Many individuals are speculating about who will benefit most from the utilization of
cloud computing. Cloud computing will benefit everyone from government agencies, civilians,
as well as business owners. The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association
Cyber Committee (AFC) are confident that government officials will benefit from the creation of
cloud storage. The next generations of information technologists will possess increased security
training, creating a more educated work force that is attuned to threats and can fashion a more
secure cloud environment, making it very difficult for the possibility of criminal activities to be
introduced due to cloud computing. Combining interoperability standards with improved virtual
contrivances will give the rising IT work force the capabilities needed to safeguard information
and add value to any operation (2013). Although government agencies seem to be benefiting
most from cloud computing, the civilian world will also be introduced to new possibilities that
invoke the utilization of cloud computing. This is going to be a second version of the rise of the
internet. Its about to explode (Jerome, 2013). Jerome has a very worthy notion. Cloud
computing will provide civilians with the ability to back up their data to remote servers, making
data loss virtually impossible. Cloud applications will expand the users ability to maneuver
around the computer due to the low usage of resources within the machine, thus increasing
productivity. Each day, cloud computing is becoming a more significantly emerging trend in the
IT industry. Users are becoming increasingly reliant on web applications and remote data storage
solutions (Paul, 2013). However, the individuals who will benefit most from cloud computing
CLOUD COMPUTING THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY 4
will be corporate organizations and business owners. The popularity of cloud computing is
climbing in both enterprise and consumer markets, and the trend is widely regarded as a game
changing advancement in software deployment and consumption (Paul, 2013). Businesses can
now accumulate cash much more rapidly due to the conservation of hardware that would need to
be maintained. Systems that store data on remote servers operated by host companies rather than
on hardware that belongs to the business owner does away with expensive equipment and the
hassle of maintaining it, giving many corporations the ability to spike their revenue and profits
by conserving money (Jerome, 2013). Cloud computing allows people the ability to store
information, run programs, and communicate at a much faster pace. Cloud computing will
become habitual, just as the internet was introduced and happily utilized by individuals across
the globe.
The benefits and issues associated with cloud computing are very conspicuous. A great
portion of cloud computing is the discussions and debates focused around user freedom,
productivity, and security. The evolution of cloud computing and the shift in focus away from
the desktop is rapidly eroding the leverage of the companies that control desktop platforms.
Microsofts operating system monopoly, for instance, is largely predicated on the abundance of
software that is only available on Windows. If more of that software shifts to becoming cloud
based applications, users will become less dependent on windows and will have more freedom to
choose which operating system they embrace (Paul, 2013). Stallman states that users have four
essential freedoms when it comes to open source software: the ability to run the program as they
wish, to study and change the internal source code of the program so it does what you would like
it to do, the ability to redistribute exact copies, as well as to redistribute copies of your modified
versions (Stallman, 2013). However, Stallman fears that cloud computing will be more
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apprehensive than beneficial to users worldwide. Stallman states that the term cloud
computing is very vague and masks the fact that users may not be in control of their data when
it is channeled through distant servers. Many internet applications are set up under software as a
service (SaaS) contracts in which users partake in. These programs include photo editing as
well as social networking, however these programs collect user information and utilize it for
other purposes such as marketing and generating user profiles. SaaS does not require covert code
to obtain users data. Instead, users must provide their data to the server in order to utilize it. This
has the same effect as spyware: the server operator receives the data that is requested (Stallman,
2013). Today, hackers execute most of their major attacks by using large improvised networks
called botnets, which they typically create by infecting websites with viruses that covertly install
backdoors on visitors home or office PCs (Pacella, 2013). Although all of this information
about the security side of cloud computing is very frightening, it is to inform of the possible
issues that can arise. The chances of these occurring issues are dwindling each day. IT
professionals are becoming more proficient in security each day. In fact, cloud servers and their
operations are highly visible, meaning that they are quick and easy to monitor, and security
managers can amass data quickly from linked networks to respond to threats quickly. The linking
of these cloud networks also means that various governmental and industrial taskforces can share
information and resources to address security issues collaboratively, which increases the
promptness of correcting security disputes, as well as the level of impeccability that is associated
with guarding user data (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Cyber
Committee, 2013).
All in all, cloud computing will alter the world for the better by increasing employment
possibilities, increasing the utilization of applications, as well as increasing freedom,
CLOUD COMPUTING THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY 6
productivity, and security. Cloud computing will soon take the IT industry by storm, just as the
internet has, and contributing to the utilization of cloud computing will become habitual to
governmental agencies, civilian individuals, as well as corporate companies, and entrepreneurs.
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References
Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Cyber Committee. (2013). Cloud
Computing Could Minimize Security Threats. In D. Haugen & S. Musser (Eds.), At
Issue. Technology and the Cloud. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from Security
and Cloud Computing, 2011) Retrieved from http://galegroup.com
Dignan, L. (2013). Cloud Computing Will Destroy Jobs. In D. Haugen & S. Musser (Eds.), At
Issue. Technology and the Cloud. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from Cloud
Computing's Real Creative Destruction May Be the IT Workforce, ZDNet.com, 2011)
Retrieved from http://galegroup.com
Jerome, S. (2013). Cloud Technology Will Create Jobs. In D. Haugen & S. Musser (Eds.), At
Issue. Technology and the Cloud. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from National
Journal, 2011, October 29, 18) Retrieved from http://galegroup.com
Pacella, R. M. (2013). Hacking Is a Significant Threat to Cloud Computing. In D. Haugen & S.
Musser (Eds.), At Issue. Technology and the Cloud. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
(Reprinted from Popular Science, 2011, April, 278) Retrieved from http://galegroup.com
Paul, R. (2013). Cloud Computing Has the Potential to Expand User Freedom. In D. Haugen &
S. Musser (Eds.), At Issue. Technology and the Cloud. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
(Reprinted from Why Stallman Is Wrong When He Calls Cloud Computing Stupi, Ars
Technica, 2008) Retrieved from http://galegroup.com
Stallman, R. M. (2013). Cloud Computing Threatens User Freedom and Should Be Avoided. In
D. Haugen & S. Musser (Eds.), At Issue. Technology and the Cloud. Detroit: Greenhaven
Press. (Reprinted fromBoston Review, 2010, March 18) Retrieved from
http://galegroup.com