{"id":852,"date":"2010-12-23T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2010-12-23T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/?p=852"},"modified":"2014-03-12T13:14:02","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T19:14:02","slug":"living-in-the-cloud-first-things-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/living-in-the-cloud-first-things-first\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Cloud, First Things First"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Source: flickr\/oskay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I didn’t start using a computer full-time until 2001 when I landed in the college dorms back at East Texas Baptist University<\/a>. I immediately set out to create something memorable for the university in the form of student communication: an instant messenger based on school emails. That never took off, as I barely understood how to set up my email account in Outlook Express. Instead, I focused more on a social network (before that term existed), and running a web server from my PC in my dorm room.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward 4 years.<\/p>\n

The social network I started in college migrated to a global website. I also now owned a PocketPC, a laptop, and had a corporate desk job. During my off time (and sometimes my “on time”) I would work on the code for the web pages. The biggest problem I had was making sure the files I changed in one place were propagated to all other places.<\/p>\n

It was just my luck: I became a beta tester for Microsoft Office. My favorite office program for that suite:\u00c2\u00a0Groove<\/a>. Microsoft Groove was the very, very early fore-runner of what is now known as Windows Live Mesh<\/a>. It was a desktop client that sync’d your files to the Groove Server. From there, conflicts were resolved, you could chat with other people in the work-group, and everything stayed in sync.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward another 4 years, and you’d find me keeping my bookmarks sync’d with Del.icio.us, my web pages with Windows Live Mesh, my email in Thunderbird, my finances with Microsoft Money, and my IM contact lists with Digsby.<\/p>\n

The one thing all those have in common: they all require a piece of software to keep them sync’d to the cloud. Over the last 2 years, I’ve been migrating as much as I can to the cloud, and exploring the available software replacement options as I find them.<\/p>\n

So in making this transition to Living in the Cloud, first things first: cut the cord. Figure out what you do on a daily basis, and how you’d go about doing it if your only software was the Google Chrome OS.<\/p>\n

Luckily for you, you can also experience the Chrome OS experience, even if you didn’t get one of the Google Laptops:<\/p>\n

Imagine starting up your computer, logging in with your Google Account, and the first and only thing that opens is your internet browser: Google Chrome. Now, try to work. Attempt to go about your daily routine without access to any Windows network shares, Microsoft Office programs, an\u00c2\u00a0abhorrent\u00c2\u00a0collection of randomly placed desktop icons, or really anything you would normally launch from a taskbar\/start menu\/icon on your computer. Everything you do must be done in the browser.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once the stress of not being able to minimize the browser has subsided, then start thinking about where the data is stored that you want – and where you can put it online to get it. So, first things first: start finding online resources to store all the things you think you have to have software to use.<\/p>\n

I’ll start documenting my changes once I’ve picked them. I have a few resources I’m currently testing, but I may have to create my own solutions to actually achieve what I want in the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The hardest part about cutting the cord is making sure everything you need is available online, and how you’re going to access it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[507,506,707,3],"tags":[689,502,690,503,697,692,698,702,699,704,691,703,705,701,700],"class_list":["post-852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cloud-computing-concepts","category-how-to","category-living-in-the-cloud-cloud-computing-concepts","category-tech","tag-chrome-os","tag-cloud-computing","tag-cr-48","tag-digsby","tag-google-chrome","tag-living-in-the-cloud","tag-microsoft-groove","tag-microsoft-money","tag-microsoft-office","tag-migrating-to-the-cloud","tag-netbook","tag-outlook-express","tag-pocketpc","tag-thunderbird","tag-windows-live-mesh"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prOO4-dK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":846,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/introducing-living-in-the-cloud-the-series\/","url_meta":{"origin":852,"position":0},"title":"Introducing: Living in the Cloud (The Series)","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"December 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Monday, I got an unexpected surprise on my doorstep: a Google Cr-48 Chrome OS Netbook (youtube video). From the video, you can see that it's nothing more than a Chrome Browser with a keyboard and Wifi\/3G internet access. After spending a day getting it set up and testing the battery\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Chrome_Cloud1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":896,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/cloud-file-synchronization\/","url_meta":{"origin":852,"position":1},"title":"Cloud File Synchronization","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"December 28, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"While the rest of my work requires access to files on a server, when I'm mobile, everything must be in sync with the cloud. Here's my setup.","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/3201.Sync256_5F00_1E0A24D91.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":942,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2011\/01\/living-in-the-cloud-code-editing\/","url_meta":{"origin":852,"position":2},"title":"Living in the Cloud: Code Editing","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"January 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"TextDrop is a text-editing, cloud-based web-application that allows you to create, modify, and save text-based files back to Dropbox.","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/apple-touch-icon.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":915,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2010\/12\/concept-dropbox-api-integration-webhost-sync\/","url_meta":{"origin":852,"position":3},"title":"Concept: DropBox API Integration, Webhost Sync","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"December 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoy trying to find solutions to things that are difficult to accomplish, whether that is researching existing technologies to try and mash them together, or developing new ones to solve a problem. It's rare that I have to create completely new things, so more often than not, all the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/box1.png?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1086,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2011\/02\/my-favorite-google-chrome-os-extensions\/","url_meta":{"origin":852,"position":4},"title":"My favorite Google Chrome OS extensions","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"February 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"After 2 months of Chrome OS daily use, I've compiled a list of plugins a web developer & casual social network engineer should use.","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Google Chrome OS Logo - Source: doobybrain.com","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/google-chrome-OS-logo1-150x113.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1264,"url":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2011\/04\/the-evercoupon-the-last-coupon-youll-ever-need\/","url_meta":{"origin":852,"position":5},"title":"The EverCoupon: The last coupon you’ll ever need","author":"[[Neo]]","date":"April 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A phone app to let you scan coupons to the cloud, share w\/ friends, auto-delete expired ones & provide a single barcode for the store clerk","rel":"","context":"In "Cloud Computing"","block_context":{"text":"Cloud Computing","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/category\/cloud-computing-concepts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/EverCoupon_201141372539.png?fit=751%2C751&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/EverCoupon_201141372539.png?fit=751%2C751&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/EverCoupon_201141372539.png?fit=751%2C751&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/EverCoupon_201141372539.png?fit=751%2C751&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1516,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions\/1516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}