Online Apps, Cloud Computing, and the Future

Look at the screenshot below. At first glance, you're probably thinking that I'm messing around with Photoshop again or some other photo editing software. But if you look closely you'll see that what I'm using to edit is actually within my Rockmelt browser. It's an online photo editing software you can use over at pixlr.com.

No need to download Photoshop or have intense processors or video cards or hard disk space. All you need is a browser and a decent internet connection. Of course it doesn't have all the features of Adobe Photoshop but it definitely does the job. So technically, you can be anywhere in the world, and still have access to this kind of photo editing software for free.

The point here is that eventually there will no longer be a need for computers to have hardcore specs because everything is becoming online. Eventually you'll be able to edit videos, render 3D graphics and animations, and many other kinds of works just by having internet and you won't need a high-end laptop or computer. I think this has something to do with the concept of cloud computing.

This will really have such a massive change in our lives and how we interact. Nowadays, people use Google docs to collaborate in real-time, no need for servers or Microsoft Office. Eventually anyone will have the power to access the most powerful software (something that right now is available only to those privileged enough to have laptops or computers with high end specs) . This will really change the market and give more power and choices to consumers.

Here's a video that explains the concept of cloud computing. It actually talks about the server side of things (I'm really not so adept in the technical matters of it). But from how I've interpreted it, this is more of on the side of providing a cloud computing service.

It does make me think of a few questions about it though cause there's really a lot I don't understand. Especially the multi-tenancy concept? I'm a bit wary of the part where the guy talks about the "one app that everyone shares". Surely there will be competing firms that provide different clouds, right? I'm sure. So the bottomline is that a lot of the expenses of users and business owners today are on hardware and software that may one day be obsolete in a sense that it's no longer relevant.

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This blog post is brought to you by our friends over at The Hanso Foundation:

The Hanso Foundation