Study shows consumers use more cloud services than they think
17 June 2011 12:04:35
The term "cloud computing" is foreign to many Americans, despite the fact that they might be using cloud services every day, Information Week reported recently.
According to the tech news publication, a study found that 22 percent of respondents said they used "cloud-based" email services, along with lower percentages for photos, video and music. However, when actual webmail brands are cited, the numbers change dramatically.
"When presented with brand names, nine out of 10 consumers indicate they are using some type of cloud-related service," Information Week cited the report as saying. These include common email services like Yahoo Mail and Gmail, as well as photo sites like Flickr and Picasa.
Experts told the publication that consumers have been cloud users for much longer than they think, and that web-based applications to manage computing resources remotely is not a novel concept.
Other experts say that this is likely a positive sign for enterprise cloud computing users, since the general - if poorly recognized - familiarity with the model will allow workers to easily learn the proper way to use business cloud products
-McAfee Cloud Security
