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If you’re an IT manager or senior IT executive in the evaluation phase for turning over some of your infrastructure to the cloud, you’re not alone. Cloud adoption can vary by industry and organization, but cloud computing is rapidly making inroads into most organizations. According to a recent survey of 600 senior IT and business executives by Savvis, 70 percent of IT decision makers are using or plan to use cloud computing in their own enterprises within 24 months. While concerns about security, identity, SLAs, and other topics are still on the minds of many IT pros, those concerns are...

So the federal government is rushing into cloud computing without any thought for security, privacy and other important topics. And then last month the Dept of Engraving gets hacked because their cloud computing provider was compromised? Can anyone say insanity?

A radical new day has dawned for the operating system. Today Google finally aired its long awaited Chrome Operating System. The operating system was detailed at a press conference starting at 1 p.m. EST, and the open source code was posted online just before the start of the presentation. The new operating system brings a dramatically different look and perspective to the market and just may give Microsoft and OS X some tough competition by reinventing a tired old wheel -- the operating system -- offering the first laptop/desktop OS built around the browser and web applications. A Google engineer...

“Cloud computing” has easily replaced “Web 2.0” as the current trendy buzzword. The state of California is even turning to it for government systems. I have to say, however, that I have serious reservations about heavily implementing cloud computing in my own work flow. I believe that cloud computing is the killer app of the future, but the future isn’t quite here yet. Don’t get me wrong. I do make limited use of cloud computing applications, especially Gmail. But mostly, I don’t feel comfortable putting my entire computing life “in the cloud”. Here’s why. -- Access. Putting all my data...

Moblin is an Intel-created open-source operating system for netbooks and, specifically, the kind of people who use them. On a technical level this means Moblin is built for the Atom x86 chip found in many netbooks, while on a practical level it means Moblin is an Internet- and multimedia-focused operating system. Moblin is less about knocking-up spreadsheets on the move and more about twittering, updating your Facebook account, and watching movies on the go.Fundamentally, Moblin is just another distribution of Linux (based on Fedora), although it's one that benefits from some unique tweaks and a radical user-interface. However, traditional apps...

Google Chrome OS is arriving just in time to take advantage of the perfect storm of cloud services, cheap hardware, and a new generation of platform-agnostic users. Unlike other Linux-based OSs, Chrome has brand recognition that even the biggest neophyte could get comfortable with. Larry Ellison of Oracle was touting the benefits of the network computer back in 1996. He was ahead of his time. People weren’t ready for the network computer, and the network certainly wasn’t ready for the people. Fast forward to 2009, when many people view computers as mere tools to connect to the Net. Typical uses...

Microsoft Corp will release a free version of its dominant Office software that users can access over the Web, catching up with products that arch rival Google Inc launched three years ago. The world's largest software maker will offer a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software and a note-taking program with the same look and feel of their counterparts in the Office suites that it sells for personal computers. It is the latest salvo in an intensifying war between the two technology giants. Google announced plans last week to challenge Windows with a free operating system. Microsoft introduced a new search...

Software giant comes under more pressure from Google's free servicesSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Microsoft Corp. on Monday made the latest edition of its Office software suite available for testing and plans to make key applications such as Word and Excel available over the Web -- acknowledging burgeoning competition from Internet giant Google Inc. and others.Office is a dependable cash cow that Microsoft is leaning on as it increasingly shifts toward a business model partly based on the Internet. The company said at its Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans that "tens of thousands" of people will now be able to...

With Chrome OS, Google aims to make the Web the primary platform for software development. Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s plan to release its own operating system based on its Chrome browser is at once audacious and laughable. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Windows represents slightly less than 90% of the personal computer operating system market, a position it has held for years. Google's industry ally, Apple, has managed to steal a few percentage points of market share away from Microsoft in the past twelve years under the singular leadership of CEO Steve Jobs. But Windows remains the dominant operating system, more dominant even...

Google's rumored "GDrive," a service that would enable users to access their PCs from any Internet connection, could kill off the desktop computer, The Guardian has reported. The GDrive, unconfirmed by Google, is reported to launch this year, with tech news sites calling it the "most anticipated Google product so far." The Google drive would shift away from Microsoft Window's operating system, in favor of "cloud computing," where storage and processing is done in data centers. Users would no longer have to rely on their computers' powerful hard drives. Home and businesses have been turning toward web-based services, such as...

Buzzword chimera the size of a paperback Start-up CherryPal is taking pre-orders today for its partly cloudy "desktop" that mashes web-hosted computing, going green, open source, and social networking into a 10 ounce box. The (self-titled) CherryPal systems are $249, and surprisingly won't require a monthly subscription despite the fact that most of its storage capacity and several of its features hosted in the cloud.Note: we still haven't seen a working unit with our own eyes. According to CherryPal, as of Friday the boxes were still being given the fine tooth courtesy of US Customs and Border Protection's best and...