Is it possible to go without Windows and fulfil all your computing needs using a Chromebook or Chromebase machine? The answer might surprise you! Read the full article here.
Whilst we continue to keep a general eye on consumer cloud services, it’s been a little while since we did a proper comparison. As there have been a number of developments this year, particularly in terms of falling prices, it’s a good time to step back and look at the wider picture.
Firstly, let’s clarify what we mean by ‘cloud consumer services’. What we are talking about here are widely available file sharing, syncing and backup services. They use a client program on the computer or mobile device; when a change is made (such as a new document being created) it is ‘synced’ to a secure area on the cloud, from where it can then be accessed by any other device the user may have. Alternatively, it can be considered as a (hopefully) safe backup location, from where the data can be recovered in the event of problems. For inclusion here, the service should have a basic free offering, along with a low-cost option for additional storage. There are literally dozens if not hundreds of such services. As the market continues to mature, there will be a shakeout and many of these services will vanish. Some will simply go to the wall, whilst others will be taken over and absorbed by competitors. Many PC vendors currently offer proprietary cloud services to their customers – these too can be anticipated to go. For this reason, we suggest sticking to the big names who are committed to this game and who are likely to be around in years to come. The candidates here (in no particular order) are Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Apple iCloud, Box and hubiC. Several months ago, both Google and Microsoft (OneDrive) slashed the cost of their cloud storage offerings (see http://ctacs.weebly.com/news--articles/big-increase-in-onedrive-cloud-storage-from-microsoft and http://ctacs.weebly.com/news--articles/google-cut-prices-clouds-for-all). Finally, Dropbox have followed suit. Sort of. As in: they haven't actually reduced prices, but you now get a lot more for your money. Previously, the Professional version of Dropbox provided 100MB storage for £7.99 / US$ 9.99 a month, whereas that has now increased by a factor 10, giving 1TB (1000 GB) for the same price. However, the free version of Dropbox remains at a rather paltry 2GB, compared with the free 15GB available from both Microsoft and Google. At their Worldwide Developers Conference on June 2nd, Apple announced the forthcoming launch of iCloud Drive. As the name suggests, this is a cloud-based service. It extends Apple's current iCloud offering - which is mainly used for backing up iPhones and iPads and for syncing data across them - into a general purpose "disk" that can hold any type of file. As such, it is pitched against the likes of Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. In fact, it's arguably a case of deja vu. More than a decade ago Apple had a similar offering called iDisk. It went through several iterations before Apple finally killed it in 2012. However, one important difference is that it was restricted to Mac OS X, whereas iCloud is cross-platform: OS X, Windows, iOS (highly unlikely it will ever appear on Android, though). It is priced competitively, with the first 5GB free and with paid plans starting at 20GB for 99c a month (possibly 79p in the UK). Competition continues to heat up in the consumer cloud business. In recent months, both Google and Microsoft have improved their services and lowered prices. iCloud Drive will prove a powerful competitor, with special appeal to the Apple faithful. The biggest potential loser is Dropbox - actually considered the best of the bunch by many people - which offers the least free space of all and the most costly paid plans. Google have made dramatic cuts to the price of their cloud storage offering, Google Drive. Previously, 100GB storage cost $4.99 a month, but is now down to $1.99. 1TB storage, previously $49.99 a month, falls to $9.99. For users with less demanding requirements, the free allowance of 15GB remains. One effect of these changes is that the use of Google Drive for offsite backup storage becomes a lot more viable for individuals and small businesses. For instance, many NAS systems now have the ability to store data on commercial cloud services, a case in point being the newly released DSM 5 from Synology. Whilst local backup to an USB drive or another NAS remains the best way of achieving a comprehensive backup, the cloud provides a useful second tier of protection. It will be interesting to see if perceived market leader Dropbox now follows suit, as it's 100GB offering is twice as expensive as Google's old pricing anyway. Synology have released the latest version of DSM, the operating system for their extensive line of network attached storage (NAS) units. It features a brand-new look with the sort of clean, minimalist approach taken by Microsoft with Windows 8 and Apple with iO7. Whilst much of the changes are really refinements and improvements to existing functionality, there are some new features as well. For instance, Cloud Sync enables the DiskStation to synchronise information with popular cloud services such as Dropbox and Google Drive, which can provide a useful offsite backup facility for key data. Also, QuickConnect - Synology's method for providing easy remote access to the DiskStation without too much technical knowledge and configuration - has been significantly improved.
To find out more about DSM, go here. Office 365 is Microsoft's combined offering of it's ubiquitous Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook etc) combined with online services such as email and storage. Traditionally, Office software has been purchased but Office 365 is a subscription service, paid monthly or annually. In effect, the software is being rented. What are the advantages of this? Firstly, it removes the need for large upfront purchases, potentially improving cash flow. Secondly, it is flexible as you can add, remove or reallocate licenses. Thirdly, it is always up-to-date, providing the latest versions of the software. Besides the software, there is corporate-level email, calendaring, collaborative software and websites, operated by Microsoft. As Microsoft is such a huge company it backs these with massive resources, ensuring the highest levels of availability and performance. Office 365 comes in different flavours. Office 365 Home Premium is intended for home users and allows Office to be installed on 5 computers. This is the full version of Office, comparable to Office Professional. Office Professional usually costs around £300 to buy whereas Office 365 Home Premium is just £79.99 a year, pretty much making it a no-brainer for a household with multiple computers. Besides the main software, it also provides monthly Skype credit, access to web versions of Office, plus up to 100GB online storage on SkyDrive. When you consider that a 100GB Dropbox account alone is some £70 a year this really helps put things in perspective. The next version is Office 365 Small Business, aimed at businesses of up to 25 users. This is really an online service as it does not include the Office software itself (although does allow use of the cut-down web-based versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint). Rather, it provides email, calendaring, conferencing and both private and a public-facing website. Office 365 Small Business is of most interest to small companies wanting a professional email system and who have maybe already purchased the Office software or do not use it. For instance, many small businesses still run an in-house email system established years ago or use services provided by relatively small ISPs; both of these things are less tenable these days and Office 365 provides an excellent alternative with email that works with Outlook, webmail and with tablets and Smartphones. An additional consideration is that Office 365 mailboxes offer use capacity. It costs £39.60 per user per year. Office 365 Small Business Premium is the same but includes the full Office suite software. Again intended at small businesses with up to 25 users, it is priced at £100.80 per user per year. Both Small Business and Small Business Premium can also be paid for on a monthly basis. Finally there is Office 365 Midsize Business, slightly more expensive, available for up to 300 users. All business versions can be managed from Windows Server Essentials, making it a natural companion, with Office 365 Midsize Business featuring Active Directory integration with Windows Server. Leading NAS supplier Synology have announced the latest version of their acclaimed DiskStation Manager operating system, known as DSM 5. Likely to ship during the Spring, the UK launch of the beta version took place in London on 16th January and CTACS were in attendance. DSM is a highly regarded piece of software and is considered to give Synology a huge advantage over other NAS suppliers. Most NAS systems are controlled using static web pages and as such are rather clunky to use. In contrast, although accessed within a browser, DSM provides an experience much like using a regular computer, complete with a Desktop, multiple windows plus a drag-and-drop interface. Synology were the first to do this and although other manufacturers such as QNAP and Netgear have been playing catch-up, Synology remain ahead of the curve. DSM 5 features a new interface. The fashion these days is for simplified, cleaner look, as seen in Apple's iOS 7 and Microsoft's Windows 8 and DSM 5 is very much within this vogue. But it is more than a pretty face - a lot of effort has gone into making it easier to install, configure and manage the system. As it is still early days, it's probably inappropriate to run through all the changes in detail, particularly as things are still subject to change. But one very useful new capability is the so-called "hybrid" cloud. Most people will be familiar with public cloud services such as Dropbox, SkyDrive and Google Drive. Synology have Cloud Station, which provides a totally private cloud solution. But DSM 5 supports both, offering the best of both worlds plus providing a means to backup key data from the DiskStation to Dropbox, Google Drive and Baidu (the latter is a sort of Chinese equivalent to Google). This is a very exciting development indeed. We will provide more information on DSM 5 as the official launch date approaches. LG have announced (well, pre-announced - the real announcement is not until the CES show in January) the Chromebase. This is an all-in-one device that combines a computer with a screen, similar in format to the Apple iMac. The big difference is that it is based around the Chrome OS. The specification is relatively modest: a low-end Intel processor, 2GB RAM and 16GB of SSD storage. Although this would be largely unusable in a Windows environment, the Chrome OS is simpler and more efficient and here it is fine. The intention is that documents are stored on the Google cloud, so only a small amount of local storage is provided. The price at this stage is currently unknown. Chromebook laptops with a similar specification are priced around £200. Screens - the Chromebase has a 21.5" one with 1920x1080 resolution - sell for £100. There are some savings to be made - only one power supply is required for instance - but clearly some effort has gone into the styling and presentation. Perhaps a price in the range £299-£349 would be appropriate, but we shall have to wait and see! HP's latest Chromebook - the HP Chromebook 11 (as announced here) is hot. No, really it is. So much so that HP have been forced to withdraw it from sale. Apparently the charger overheats, so much so that HP are also advising existing customers not to use it. Fortunately, a unique selling proposition of the HP Chromebook is (was?) that it uses a standard micro-USB connection of the sort also used by mobile phones and tablets, so there is a good chance that customers might already have a suitable alternative charger for now.
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