AlanAllport.Com

I’ve been an avid user of ‘cloud’ computing now for some time. And Google docs has been an integral part of what I do Online.

I do quite a lot of what might best be called ‘mobile’ computing with a portable netbook and a tablet pc as part of the kit I use to carry out my Online work.

It makes sense then to have as many documents available in one location that can be accessed from all of those devices – and indeed from a public computer in an Internet cafe if need be.

If you use outsourcers or project teams in remote locations, the likes of Google docs proves very useful for document sharing because you can set password protection on individual documents such that some of your documents can remain private to you and others can be made available to people that you choose.

So, I was very interested to learn that Google was putting out some lightweight netbooks that basically use the Google Chrome browser in lieu of a traditional operating system.

The idea is that the ‘cloud’ becomes your workspace and storage space. A small amount of solid state storage is provided on the device itself – 16gb I believe.

Samsung and Acer have been chosen to provide the initial hardware – which comes in wifi and 3g flavors.

Here in the UK the Acer machine, which is my preferred model based on smaller screen size – therefore more compact and portable, which would better suit what I want to use it for – is not yet available, so I haven’t fully made up my mind whether I’m going to shell out for one.

On paper, weighing in at £300 to £400 at UK prices, I’m not sure what you actually gain over and above a netbook operating on the Windows platform – but I guess what I’m looking to find out in its purest form is whether this particular cloud business model would still need to be supplemented by a regular computer platform – which I suspect it would.

Anyway, I’m sure it would be a very interesting experiment, so I’ll keep you posted on what I decide.