With cloud service becoming more main stream and the general public becoming more aware of it, there may come a time when everyone is using it and it becomes the standard way of using a computer. This would mean a highly advanced form of computer usage. At the same time the majority of the users may actually become dumber with computer technology.
It’s a bit of a paradox that as we move forward with computer use, people may move back through less knowledge of the technology they are using. It’s supposed to make things easier and by pushing a button or clicking a mouse a task is done for you which at one time took much longer to do.
Just look at the functions of Excel. Click the summation sign and a borderline shows you which part of the column will be added. Then you just press enter and presto, you get the result. This has come a long way from the yellow columnar pad (Have you actually used one?) where you had to write down the numbers with a pencil so you can make erasures, then one by one add up the numbers.
Of course in this instance you’re supposed to understand what the Excel program is doing. It’s just making it easier and faster for you to do computation. Net present value, future value, etc. can be easily computed, and hopefully you understand all the concepts behind it.
With cloud computing, the time may come when people don’t know how, or perhaps never even knew that a program once had to be installed in a computer. While the struggles of having to get an updated program ( which is easier even now since you can get it online) will be over, the average individual may not fully appreciate what is going on.
They may not be too concerned or aware about hackers and viruses since the cloud provider will be doing all the hard work. This may bring about some degree of complacency with regards to data security. There will be a high degree of dependency on third parties.
Nevertheless, it is something that has to be dealt with and as of now, we will truly never know until some future date, the full impact of cloud computing service.
