Americans Foggy When It Comes to Cloud Computing, Survey Says
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| Brocken Inaglor via Wikicommons |
Citrix, a Santa Clara-based cloud company, concluded that Americans have no clue what cloud computing is, despite the fact that they use it on a daily basis. The company conducted an online survey collected from some 1,006 Americans with a margin of error of of 3.1 percent.
Here are some more illuminating highlights from the study:
- 29 percent thought the cloud dealt with weather;
- 16 percent (perhaps San Francisco's tech crowd) knew it related to a computer network or Internet storage;
- 51 percent think stormy weather can interfere with cloud computing (ha!);
- We fake it: Over half of those surveyed use "the cloud" in conversation without really knowing what it is;
- 54 percent claim to never use the cloud, but really, most everyone (95 percent) uses Cloud computing; just think back to when you last shopped online, used Facebook, Twitter, played online games, or stored photos, videos, or music online.
Just like we know very little about the nebulous heavens above, we also don't understand how this invisible and intangible web stores so much damn information. The good news is that after learning what the cloud is (i.e., after taking this survey), many Americans were attracted to the notion of this complex information web.
- 59 percent thought the future would be entirely cloud-based, while 33 percent said they'd like to tan at a beach while working (more work, less clothing! That sounds like a good slogan for cloud);
- 40 percent thought it'd be cool to do work totally naked at home, which the cloud allows you to do;
- 68 percent thought the cloud could help the economy.
There will always be those who resist conforming to new ways of life, though. Some Americans vowed to never to use cloud services. Their reasons? About 34 percent said it was too much money, 32 percent said they had security concerns, and 31 percent cited privacy concerns.
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