Forget monster hard drives, backing up your PC and shrink-wrapped software - the future of computing is up in the "cloud". Cloud computing allows users to access programs and vast network of computing resources across the Internet as if they were on their own machines.
Cloud computing can give on-demand access to supercomputer-level power, even from a thin client or mobile device such as a smart phone or laptop.
Microsoft brought the cloud computing concept - whereby all of our data and applications are stored on the internet as opposed to on the PC - a step closer to reality with the unveiling of its Live Mesh platform.
Live Mesh is essentially a web-based operating system, letting users connect all of their devices (home PC, laptop, work computer and, in the not too distant future, handhelds and games consoles) into their own personal mesh. Files and applications can be placed into a "Mesh folder", which lives on the internet and can be accessed by all devices.
The Mesh is updated with any changes made to the files or folders the next time the user is connected to the web. It will also, for instance, allow people to remotely control their home PC from their work PC if both are part of the Mesh. Users can give trusted friends access to their Mesh files and folders for sharing and collaboration.
Google has long been a major proponent of cloud computing, with all of its services - word processing, presentations, spreadsheets, calendar, email, health care records, search, maps and video - living on the web.
Why it works
Critical to the success of cloud computing has been the growth of virtualisation, allowing one computer to act as if it were another - or many others. Server virtualisation lets clouds support more applications than traditional computing grids, hosting various kinds of middleware on virtual machines throughout the cloud.