Cloud services are what?

Any PC user who stores tons of information on his hard drive somehow encounters such a thing as cloud services. This is a very interesting development of the last decade, which has turned some basic concepts about storing, using or processing data on its head. True, not all clearly understand how this works.

Cloud services: what is it? The main varieties

For some reason, most users believe that the so-called cloud is something of a voluminous storage of information. This is not quite true. By and large, the whole system of service functioning is built on exactly such principles, which mean access to remote servers. However, several basic categories should be clearly distinguished.

If we give the simplest classification, we can say that the cloud services are:

• Storage of user and other files;
• Remote gaming services;
• Antivirus services;
• Means of information processing based on the web interface.

Despite the fact that all of them are similar to each other, there are some basic differences, which will be discussed later.

Cloud Storage Service

In the simplest sense, a cloud service is nothing more than a dedicated disk space on a remote server where the user can save their files and folders, upload them again to their computer, perform simple actions to manage them, or share them in order to They could be used by someone else.

Roughly speaking, in fact it is such a remote hard drive. The allocated space, which can be used for free, depending on the owner of the service, can vary within fairly wide limits. On average, this figure fluctuates around 25-30 GB. For a larger amount will have to pay. This is justified for business or for those who store music or video files that take up a lot of space.

Among the most famous and most popular services are the following:

• Built-in Windows systems of the latest generations of OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive);
• Dropbox;
• Google Drive
• Cloud Mail.Ru;
• Yandex Drive, etc.

Today, very many companies provide such services, however, speaking of cloud technologies, other aspects of their application and use can not be bypassed.

Antivirus services

At the present stage of development of protection tools, which are presented in the form of anti-virus software, cloud technologies have become actively used in this field.

The most simple example of their implementation can be called the popular antivirus scanner Panda Cloud Antivirus. How it works? If a threat to the system is suspected, for example, when downloading a file from the Internet, the scanner does not save it to the hard drive, and before that it sends it to the "sandbox", which is essentially the same cloud in the Which performs a suspicious object analysis. And only after that a permit is given or a prohibition on its preservation is established.

Interacting with the cloud services via the web interface

Work with cloud services can also be presented in the form of user interaction with software of a certain type through the web interface when connecting to the server via the Internet. The essence is that the application is installed not on the user's computer, but on the remote server. If you want to edit the same office documents located in the cloud, the server program is launched, but only as a web application. The user in the browser can edit the file in the same way as if it were the same MS Office installed directly on the local computer.

The file is also stored on the remote server where it was originally hosted. In some services, there is the possibility of simultaneous access and editing, when several users participate in the process itself. In this case, changes in the document are displayed in all real-time users connected to the editor. The advantages of this approach are obvious, because it is impossible to achieve this in stationary versions of office applications.

Game services

Cloud gaming service (Cloud Gaming) is also one of the varieties of such technologies. The essence of its use boils down to the fact that the online game software is initially installed on a remote server, and when the gamer accesses the game, it can be partially downloaded to the user's computer.

In these technologies, there are two directions:

• Streaming part of the game as necessary for its immediate launch of files (File Streaming), which is approximately 5% of the total size;
• Stream video processing (video streaming) - hosting and processing of all game content directly on the server of the owner of the service.

The first type was previously provided by services such as Utomik and Kalydo, which have already sunk into oblivion, and the second type is developing more dynamically and is represented by such giants as Playkey, LiquidSky, OnLive and many others. However, in most cases, any cloud service for games implies a fee for using a special access key (PlayKey) or buying game resources (LiquidSky). But with this approach, you can run the game from any device (computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, game consoles).

conclusions

Proceeding from all the above, it can be concluded that cloud services are not only a convenient tool for saving their own information, but also an excellent means of managing it, working with many programs without physically installing them on their own terminal, simultaneous access and editing of files and, Of course, huge opportunities in the development of entertainment industry. And these are only the main directions, according to which the development of cloud technologies is under way. If we take into account the combining of computing capabilities of computers, at some point connected to the World Wide Web, the prospects for the development and use of such services look very tempting.