Computer’s in the Shop but My Head’s in the Cloud

Late last week, the keyboard and trackpad on my MacBook Pro went out. One minute I was typing away and the next I wasn’t. I made it through the weekend thanks to my trusty USB keyboard and trackball.

I dropped the laptop off yesterday morning at Megabyte for some TLC. I’m working now on my kids’ dinosaur of a computer. A 12-pound boat anchor, we bought the Dell Inspiron 9100 four or five years ago for my wife to use in one of our previous businesses. Considered a desktop replacement computer at the time, we didn’t care too much about the weight. She wasn’t traveling and Dell gave us a good price when we ordered.

What was then a passable computer is practically archaic today. With only 256 MB of RAM and 60 GB hard-drive, this machine barely runs the Flash games my kids play. I would almost rather set it on fire than try to work with it for several days, but if I did that, my kids would just want us to buy them a shinier, prettier, faster computer.

The magic of the cloud will save this relic from the death it deserves. Cloud computing is a term that describes any software service whose storage or processing takes place primarily on the Internet. When using such services, your computer functions similarly to a dumb terminal machine that one might have used with a mainframe computer 30 years ago.

Most of the Internet’s popular services — Facebook, flickr, MySpace, Google Docs, Twitter, and hundreds more — exist in the cloud. Your web browser gives you an interface to these services but all the action takes place out on the ‘Net.

About a year ago, I decided to shift as much of my operational infrastructure as I could manage to the cloud. I run my business e-mail through Google Apps for Your Domain. Likewise I draft client documents using the Google Docs word processor and crunch numbers using Google Docs spreadsheets. I share photos through flickr and SmugMug. Videos go through YouTube. I send e-mail blasts with ConstantContact. I connect with clients, friends and family via Twitter, Facebook and Yammer.

As a cash-strapped entrepreneur, I love free and cheap. Readily available cheap services from any Internet connected computer or smartphone are even better. The majority of these services cost nothing or next to nothing.  Unfortunately, when the Internet goes down completely, you’re cut off from all of them. I would argue, however, that in today’s omni-connected, always online world, most office freeze up with the Internet connection goes down.

So things could be a lot worse for me right now. I’m using the uber-fast Google Chrome browser to access all my online files and services, and I can easily run 90% of my business without access to the hard drive on my laptop.

If you’re hesitant about storing critical business data somewhere other than your own computer, think about what would happen if your hard drive crashed or your office burned down. Everyone should maintain offsite backups of critical business information. The cloud can easily serve as your offsite backup.

I’m tremendously grateful to have access to my data today. Had it not been available, I would have spent the mowing the lawn, weed eating and catching up on laundry. My wife would argue that these are all vital tasks…but they don’t keep my business going on a busy Tuesday morning.

Tags: infrastructure, savings, Technology, web2.0