Cloud Computing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Cloud Computing - Essay Example By the early 1970s, many mainframes acquired interactive user interfaces and operated as timesharing computers, supporting hundreds of users simultaneously. Data was batch processed at the end of business cycles, usually daily at night; modem speeds were slow and downloads happed when computer were more or less idle. Users gained access through specialized terminals or personal computers equipped with terminal emulation software. By the 1980s, many mainframes supported graphical terminals, and terminal emulation, but not graphical user interfaces. Graphical user interfaces reached mainstream in the 1990s through new operating systems supporting GUIs on personal computers. In the mid-2000s the word timeshare became cloud computing and was sold to new customers as a new network configuration. Cloud computing allows business to work with documents in the cloud such as word processing and spreadsheets. Microsoft office functionality for documents, calendars, and contacts can be accessed through Microsoft’s office 365 for small firms. This office offers all the requirements that may be needed by small firms in terms of word processing. Packages that are also offered by cloud computing are the full desktop version of Microsoft office that the users can download, install and use from their main computer when one is working without internet connection (Defelice 2010). Businesses can exchange accounting information and data through email cloud services, for example firms can simply buy as many mail boxes as it can and then allocate the mail boxes to the employees, and therefore the business do not need to set up and manage an email server from its premises. Google applications for work are some of the most powerful cloud email that is widely used by many companies. Another important mail service is the Gmail which is very powerful and flexible for the vast majority of small firms. Moreover, cloud email services are available from many email service