Well come back to this topic in 5 years, and see how the world has changed....
Try 20 to 30 years minimum at the present rate. Im not against Cloud computing, but its the old terminal server stuff pulled up yet again.
No it aint. A lot of confusion is around because people are labeling everything and anything as being in the cloud. Think of it like bolt ons, so for example,
- you get 5 PCs and a server for your start up company with basic OSs and nothing else but a internet connection.
- you need a backup and DR plan so you go for a hosted backup service rather than a tape drive and Symantec. You save both employee time and money and have a demonstratively solid backup solution.
- You want AV but dont want to bog down your system. You go for hosted scanning. Same money, less headache.
- You want antispam, same as above.
- You want Exchange mailbox features but dont want to fork out loads for licenses or pay someone to set up and maintain it all. You go hosted exchange.
- Office phones... VOIP
..and so on, so in this example you get a rock solid IT solution pretty much in a box, you pay your monthly fees and you and your 4 assistant estate agents can concentrate on selling houses instead of faffing with a flaky tape drive or wondering if its worth paying someone to come in and update their antivirus.
