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Cloud Computing is revolutionising how we store, share and sync files

Cloud computing is all the rage lately.

Microsoft Ireland estimates that the worldwide market for cloud will reach €70 bn by 2014– and that it has the potential to create almost 20,000 new jobs over the next decade in Ireland alone.

Cloud Computing – Personal Level
At the personal level, cloud computing is already alive and well and increasingly available for your own desktop use.

All the major computing names now offer us some sort of hardrive in the clouds – Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, etc.

This allows us to store media (files, photos, video, music, etc) remotely out on the internet – and access it from any device anywhere.

Beyond simply offering storage, some services also offer syncing and backing up capability.

The most prominent names here are: Dropbox, Live Mesh, SpiderOak, SugarSync and Wuala.

Dropbox – a personal favourite
My own personal favourite is Dropbox because of its ease of use and great performance – and seamless accessing and updating of files across a number of popular handheld devices. 


It is amazingly simple to use. The installation creates a Dropbox folder on your computer — drop in a file and it miraculously appears on all of your shared computers.

Individual folders can also be shared with other users. Here are some ways that you may chose to use your Dropbox for maximum productivity.

Keeping your files secure
When you drag your files or folders into Dropbox folder, Dropbox automatically backs it up on its servers — in real time. No need to schedule backups as Dropbox does it every time that there are changes made to your documents.

Sharing files with work colleagues
Dropbox allows you to share your files with anybody, whether they have Dropbox or not.

If your colleagues have Dropbox, you can set your folders to be accessible only to particular person(s).

You can also drop files into a public folder, which you also use when sharing files with somebody who does not have Dropbox.

Simply right-click and copy the public link to the specific file and send the link to anybody, anywhere in the world.

This will solve the hassle of emailing files to your clients or colleagues, especially when files are big, such as videos or graphics.

When you work on a particular file with few people, the moment you update the file – this file will be updated in your colleagues’ Dropbox folder which is your central sharing point.

There is a mobile application – meaning, you can access your Dropbox, view and amend your files from your mobile phone.

Dropbox vs. GoogleDocs
That said, if you only use Dropbox to manually upload individually large files for online storage, to manually retrieve later, you may be better off with Google Docs, provided you don’t hit their storage limits.

If, however, you need to keep a set of folders automatically synchronized between machines, and shared folders automatically synchronized between people, then  Dropbox is the clear winner.

Dropbox is free for up to 2GB of storage with monthly plans available, up to $19.99 for 100GB.

If you have other favourite personal productivity apps, that you’d like to share – please leave details in the comment  section below. Thank you!

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