Don't Panic, A Cloudy Future Sounds Great

Admit it - You know there's always something going on in the world of gizmos.

Some lose sleep over which computer to buy, which cell phone to pre-order, and which of those won't break the bank or essentially become a brick because the speed of advancing technology puts them out of style or worse, incapacitatingly useless.

(Sorry, Windows Mobile users, Microsoft announced you will have to upgrade to version 7 by purchasing a brand new phone ... and they didn't even blink.)

SO, what's brewing?

Well, if you haven't noticed, Google has grown into a formidable opponent for Microsoft.

Some of the services they offer (free of charge, I might add) are: Mobile Alerts, Blog Search, Books, Checkout, Chrome, Desktop, Dictionary, Directory, Earth, Finance, GOOG-411, Health, Images, Maps, News, Patent Search, Toolbar, Trends, Video, and the infamous tool most love, Google Search.

At the heart of its operation is a concept that's burrowing its way into business intelligence and analytical systems, but more importantly, the minds and procedure of "how things work."

You buy a computer -- a desktop computer -- and it fulfills the needs of most users. At least, that's how it's supposed to work.

Until a switch flipped.

"In three years time, desktops will be irrelevant. In Japan, most research is done today on smart phones, not PCs."

This, coming from a Google captain.

But will desktops fade as VHS tapes have?

I guess it depends on how one looks at it.

According an article over at Mashable, Google isn't interested in how we edit our photos or type up documents. It's interested in how and where we store them.

A cloud.

"And if your data moves to the cloud, most of your daily activities are done on devices such as smart phones, where simple ... applications cater to your precise needs."

I, personally, use Google Docs (another free Google service) almost daily.

Instead of carrying a thumb drive with me, or lugging a around laptop, all of my information is stored in a cloud in a remote server, easily accesible and formatted to smart phone device access.