Cloud computing is giving many businesses the opportunity to use advanced software products without having to shell out money upfront on server hardware and software licences by accessing their software over the internet.
But it is also changing the way that we think about computing. It used to be that operating system was one of the most important parts of the way we interacted with software. But when you access software on the internet through a browser, the operating system is almost irrelvant. And it’s a change that is only likely to accelerate as we move to higher speed broadband connections that make cloud services available to a wider pool of users.
It’s no wonder then that the world’s biggest maker of operating systems, Microsoft, is investing heavily in its own cloud computing platform, called Azure.
Microsoft is not alone however, and is indeed a latecomer to the race in comparison to cloud service companies such as Amazon, Google and Salesforce.com. You can read more about all of them, and a possible future for the operating system, in this story on the Sydney Morning Herald website.