Discussion on:

Cloud computing? We don't get it, say Europeans

At least as much...

the business side would be very restricted by the various national laws on handling privacy data and the like.

I know more and more people in Australia are using web based mail, mainly services like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Live Mail just so they can keep the same email address despite changing service providers. But business is very restricted about what it can do with certain categories of data, such as the state and federal privacy laws on personal information of staff and clients.

Possibly the survey was carried out after we figured out most of it was pile of hype and BS.

Or may be we figured out that when big business spouted about all the benefits we could realise and never mentioned word one about how much more they would, we became naturally suspicious.

One of the most troubled EU economies (Greece) has the highest cloud usage, while the most successful (Germany) has the lowest. Coincidence? Probably, but it caught my eye.

discussion about the suitability of a marketing hype project.

After reading this am I supposed to know anything more about cloud computing??

you are meant to know that those damned europeans aren't listening, again.

It's probably because even our right wingers are commies.

The article assumes the audience is already familiar with the term. The majority of the TechRepublic audience are English-speaking IT professionals with a degree of background knowledge and experience. It's not practical to explain every technical term in an article, any more than an automotive magazine would explain 'rack and pinion' steering in each new story on the subject.

BBS and web forums are an early version of cloud computing. Your browser is fed a final version of the page, while the server does all the database queries and script execution.

The "cloud" is an old networking term that refers to a network cloud. An large network that you assume works but is beyond your control. Usually the network cloud is the internet.

Well, I'm pleased that there is low penetration of cloud services in Europe! Many of us are concerned, rightly or wrongly, about privacy and security. Most people will need convincing that cloud services are actually OK in this respect. The evidence so far isn't too hot.

Also, I'm personally suspicious of cloud services, because if I give up using my own software, then there might come a time when I get charged for things I used to be able to do for free.

Another problem for me is that unless there is a very good connection, they are just way too slow and cumbersome...

It's not that we don't get it, much more of we see the potential dangers and don't want it.

That's a big difference between what has been written and what is fact.

Security for a company is bad enough when you're holding 99% of the cards, but when you're only holding 50%? Does it really need any further explanation?

There's a difference between not 'getting' it and not wanting it.

In the Uk, "Cloud" means rain, flooding, disasters, thunder and lightning. I trust it really though.