As part of my first article for this platform, I am going to write about the history of cloud computing. This will be a useful article since many people know that cloud computing is an important new technological development, but very few could probably tell you exactly what cloud computing is or how it works. Look at the history of how cloud computing got to the position it has now will hopefully shed some light on the importance of cloud computing. Now, what is cloud computing? According to Oxford, the definition of cloud computing is "the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer". Usually, cloud computing services allow a company to avoid or minimize up-front IT infrastructure costs that come with using traditional servers. Cloud computing allows different companies to manage their systems easier with less maintenance while allowing older PCs (or even phones) to remotely connect to quality servers for business purposes. The term "cloud computing" appeared in 19 with a Compaq internal document. However, the term 'cloud' was used to refer to platforms for distributed computing as early as 1993. A concept similar to the cloud was described by American inventor Andy Hertzfeld in a _Wired _April 1994 feature article:
"The beauty of Telescript ... is that now, instead of just having a device to program, we now have the entire Cloud out there, where a single program can go and travel to many different sources of information and create a sort of a virtual service. No one had conceived that before. The example Jim White [the designer of Telescript, X.400_ and_ ASN.1] uses now is a date-arranging service where a software agent goes to the flower store and orders flowers and then goes to the ticket shop and gets the tickets for the show, and everything is communicated to both parties."
Over time, many major technology companies have decided to set up their own cloud computing services that allow average individuals, companies, and even governments to use the cloud in very creative ways & develop apps, websites, and other digital systems using said cloud. In July of 2002, the tech giant Amazon created a subsidiary called Amazon Web Services (or AWS for short). The goal of this new company, according to their mission statement, is to "enable developers to build innovative and entrepreneurial applications on their own." Despite being formed in 2002, the full cloud computing services were launched in March 2006, about 1 years ago. AWS, as of 2017, owns about thirty-three percent of public IaaS and PaaS cloud computing services, making it currently the largest publicly offered cloud computing service. It is used to power several of Amazon’s other services such as Twitch(“an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions” - Twitch according to Wikipedia) and Wickr (an American software service for secure instant messenger technology).
On October 27th of 2008, Microsoft created their own cloud computing service called Microsoft Azure or Azure for short. When it first came out in October of 2008, it was named “Project Red Dog” and it was renamed Windows Azure in February of 2010. By March of 2014, Azure got the name it has today, i.e. Microsoft Azure. This system lets you run a cloud computing system from a Linux computer, a Windows PC, an Android phone, or an Apple phone using the Azure mobile application. The platform is closed source, but the client SDKs are open source & available for everyone. Meanwhile, a few months earlier in April of 2008, Google created its own cloud platform called Google Cloud written in Java, C++, Python, Ruby, and Go. Between Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, you basically have three active cloud services to choose from and you can even get certified in these cloud services with industry recognized certifications that can be used in place of a traditional college degree or to simply show your general skills with cloud computing. Basically, cloud computing is now an important part of the future & thanks to this article, you will hopefully have a basic understanding for the Average Joe on how it came to be...
