The future of computing won't be determined inside your desktop, laptop, or even your tablet. It will be up in the clouds. Not the clouds in the sky, but the ones stored on computer servers around the world. Cloud computing refers to any service or software that is delivered over a network rather than from a personal computer or electronic device. That might sound a little complicated, but in practice, it's quite simple. Imagine you have a huge collection of photographs, and you don't want to transfer them to your new computer. Just upload them to a storage service in the cloud and forget about it. You'll be able to download them whenever you want in the future. What about the hassle of synchronizing a personal calendar between your smartphone and two laptops? Cloud computing has an answer. You can simply host your calendar in the cloud. As if cloud computing wasn't amazing enough, cloud gaming is also in development. In the near future, you'll be able to stream most video games from the Internet without even having to install them on your computer. Cloud computing will also revolutionize business. Before, companies always had to operate their own Internet networks. Lots of money would go into upgrading hardware and software in order to keep up with modern technology. But cloud computing offers these companies an appealing alternative. Cloud-based applications don't just save money on equipment costs; they also help employees increase their productivity by enabling them to work on smartphones and tablets. Cloud computing is particularly appealing to small businesses, because it provides all of the advantages of complex networks without the high capital costs. Cloud computing is the most exciting technological innovation since the Internet, and it's growing in popularity every year. Forty percent of small businesses in the United States used cloud-based applications in 2012, which is up from just 10% in 2009. Cloud computing offers greater accessibility, reduced costs, up-to-date software, and better project management capabilities. The question we will be asking now is, "Who isn't using cloudbased applications?"
電腦運算的未來，將不再侷限於桌上型電腦、筆記型電腦，甚至是平板電腦的軟硬體設備，而是取決於雲端。「雲端」非指天空中的雲朵，這是一種儲存於世界各地電腦伺服器的運算概念。 雲端運算泛指不假手個人電腦或電子裝置，直接透過網路傳輸的任何服務或軟體。或許有點複雜難懂，但實務上卻相當簡單。想像一下，當你收藏了一大批相片，又不想傳輸到新電腦時，只要上傳到雲端的儲存服務即大功告成，而且隨時都可以下載來看。 那麼讓智慧型手機與兩台筆記型電腦，進行個人行事曆同步化的惱人問題又該如何解決？交給雲端運算就對了。你只要在雲端設一個行事曆虛擬主機即可。更驚人的是，雲端運算還開發雲端電玩遊戲的領域。在不久的將來，你就可以從網路串流多種電玩遊戲，根本不需安裝於電腦上。 雲端運算同樣會為商業帶來革命性的改變。公司企業以往必須架設專屬網路。在升級軟硬體方面投入大筆資金，為的就是能夠跟得上現代科技的腳步。但是雲端運算為此類公司帶來令人眼睛為之一亮的解決辦法。設於雲端的應用程式不僅能節省設備成本，還能讓員工透過智慧型手機與平板電腦處理事務，增加員工產能。雲端運算尤其吸引小型企業的目光，因為雲端運算擁有架設繁複網絡的所有優點，卻不需支出高額資本。 雲端運算是繼網路問世以來，最振奮人心的創新科技，熱門程度年年高漲。2012 年，美國有40% 的小型企業使用雲端應用程式，反觀2009 年 的時候僅有10%。雲端運算擁有佈署簡便、節省成本、軟體版本永保最新狀態，以及更良好的專案管理效能等優點，所以現在大家唯一想得到的問題是：還有誰「不想」使用雲端應用程式呢？ | 
