Background

Cloud computing has been around for a few years now but consumers are recently having access to it. In the article, A Critical Review of Cloud Computing: Research, Desires, and Realities, the authors noted that, "Around 2007 the term cloud computing began to be used to reflect the use of the Internet... to connect to such devices"(Venters & Whitley, 2012, pg.3). There are many name brand companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Google that all have their own form of cloud computing. Greg Notess stated, "After 6 years of rumors, Google finally launched Google Drive; Microsoft has significantly improved its Sky Drive; and Apple is pushing iCloud on all sorts of iDevices" (Notess, 2012, pg.1). These are just to name a few of the major brand name companies carrying cloud services.

Greg Notess asked, "Do you plan to read a document at work, at home, and while traveling, perhaps on a computer, a tablet, and a Smartphone? If so, having it accessible in the cloud makes it retrievable from all three locations.... Synchronized cloud storage makes this possible and relatively easy without restoring to copying the file to a flashdrive or CD or bring a laptop for a single file" (Notess, 2012, pg.1). Therefore, with a cloud program on my devices I am able to do practically anything at anytime and anywhere I want. Other critics named Will Venters and Edgar Whitley stated that, "The idea of providing computing as a service through networks dates back to the 1960s...when the provision of computing utilities' became a driving force behind the early development of the Internet" (Venters & Whitley, 2012, pg.2). Cloud computing has been around for some time now but the advancements are just now becoming acclimated into the consumers everyday lives.