Today, Internet technology has moved so far forward that using home terminals for storing information, leisure activities such as playing games, or even working with some types of documents is completely optional. For such purposes, you can use the relatively recently appeared cloud services. This saves both space on the hard drive of your own computer, and time, since in some cases it is completely optional to install the necessary software on the same home terminal. However, many users still have no clear idea how this all works. Let's try to figure out the simplest examples.
Cloud services: what is this technology?
Unfortunately, many users who are not familiar with the basics of cloud technology, perceive the services of this type as a kind of virtual and abstract concept. This is not entirely true, because any information should be stored on some medium (first of all, on the hard disk).
Thus, the same cloud gaming service is simply open access to a game installed on a remote computer over the network using the Internet. The same goes for data storage. In this case, this is akin to when the user saves information on removable media (external hard drive, flash drive, etc.). Only here, as an external device, the hard disk of a remote computer terminal or server acts, which you can access openly.
Main varieties
On the modern Internet space, you can find a lot of all kinds of services, but the main ones are considered the following:
- Data Warehouses
- Web interfaces
- anti-virus services (“clouds” or “sandboxes”);
- game services.
Next, each variety of services will be briefly examined with a definition of the services provided to users and the basics of working with them.
Cloud Storage Services
The most common are file storages. When using them, the user does not have any need to keep tons of information on their own hard drive. You can easily save it in the cloud and use the data at any time and from any device. Moreover! As a rule, even free cloud services of this type are protected against unauthorized access to a much higher level than a regular home user computer or mobile device.
To this day, the most common and popular services are Dropbox, Mail.Ru Cloud, Yandex.Disk, Google Drive, OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), and others, built into the latest Windows operating systems.
The essence of using almost any service is that the user is allocated some reserved space on the server’s remote hard drive, where he can save his own files. True, usually these are shareware cloud services that provide about 15-20 GB. If you need more, you have to pay. The fee, of course, is symbolic, but the fact remains.
But the available volume in OneDrive, Microsoft recently reduced from 15 to 5 GB, although you can purchase additional space or take advantage of bonuses that require the provision of another 200 GB. But for business users and organizations on the basis of constant payment, the size of the stored information is limited to 1 TB.
Naturally, to access any service you need to have a valid registration, and login can be done either through a regular Internet browser (as is the case with Mail.Ru, Google or Yandex), or through a client program (for example, Dropbox).
Using web interfaces
Now a little about web interfaces, because they also represent cloud services. This can be explained with a simple example.
More recently, Microsoft announced the release of a new version of the Office 365 office suite. To use it, only the client program is installed on the computer, and the main software is located on the remote server. Thus, when launching some office editor, the user opens it not from his own terminal, but from the hard disk of the remote server. The advantage of this approach is not only that the program does not hang at the most inopportune moment, but also in the ability to share files and even edit them simultaneously. By the way, many platforms designed for web developers and programmers use the same principle.
Antivirus services
Separately, it is worth saying what anti-virus cloud services are. This concept also appeared not so long ago, but it has very serious prospects for development. Explain how this all works can be an example of any antivirus that supports such technologies. Let's take Panda Cloud Antivirus as the basis.
The point is this. If the installed protection module detects a potential threat, for example, when a user tries to save a file to the computer’s hard drive, the file itself is first sent for verification to the so-called “sandbox” or Sandbox, which, in essence, is a cloud-based testing service, after which if the threat is confirmed, the file is isolated there. Otherwise, the file becomes available for saving. All this happens within a couple of seconds, and the user himself does not even realize that the file was not checked on his computer, but remotely.
Game Services
And how do you ignore any cloud gaming service? Today, such services have become so popular that gamers are in no hurry to install new or popular games on their home terminals. But the truth is, why, if you go through the same team shooter, and even with opponents or teammates scattered around the world, it is possible in this way? Fighting an unknown or unpredictable opponent is much more interesting.
Among the most popular platforms, Kalydo, Utomik, Playkey, OnLive, LiquidSky, etc. can be singled out. Their use, again, comes down to logging in under your registration, and in some cases the game modules can be partially downloaded to the user terminal. But this, as practice shows, in no way affects the overall performance of the user system.
Can I create a cloud service myself?
Creating a cloud service on your own is not so troublesome. You do not need to be a programmer with seven spans in the forehead. It’s enough to use, say, the OwnCloud service, which helps to create a service that the user can fully customize to his own needs. There is a minimum of settings, and anyone can deal with them.
No less interesting look solutions involving the use of GoodSync Pro, Tonido, or something else like that. It will take time from 10 minutes to one hour, and in the end the user will receive their own cloud service. True, for the most part, many associate it with file storages. In general, the way it is, since an ordinary user is unlikely to be engaged in the development of gaming Internet platforms. You just need to immediately pay attention to the computer configuration (it is desirable to have at least two) and the total reserved volume of hard drives, if it is assumed that access and storage of information can be carried out externally by other users.