I've been able to do the same since 1992, before "cloud computing" was ever in anyones mind. Drafts stored on the server, and accessibility (back then) provided by any terminal program. The only thing that changed is that the terminal morphed into the browser.
Yeah, and let anyone do it without any knowledge of the stuff you're talking about. You seem to make light of that, like anyone could easily do what you're talking about. Not one of the people I support would be able to, even if it were set up for them.
I didn't say it wasn't possible before, but it's far easier now and anyone can use it.
Nothing specific to the cloud though makes this easier for the end user. Ease of use is an implementation issue. USA.Net, Hotmail (pre Microsoft) and such all set out to make a web based e-mail solution, allowing those companies be able to control most of the implementation to make it easy. The only end user requirement was a browser and knowing how to type in a URL. Before browser e-mail, there was still setups that could make it very easy on the end user, but since multiple companies were involved, not much happened there. It was completely possible for an e-mail program to set up an IMAP account for a user by simply having them provide their e-mail address and password and a number of programs support this. Most ISPs though didn't support IMAP, nor did they bother to set up the pieces required on their end for automatic account setup.
Is the cloud just about making existing possibilities easier and allowing access from multiple places? Or are there truly unique things that can be offered by the cloud. And if so, what are they?
Previous Topic
Index
