Cloud computing is the new trend of the Internet today. It is to computerize the management of certain aspects of your information system including storage, software or equipment. All these elements are now administered in line by a third entity, while being used. Gmail, Dropbox, onedrive, or blogs hosted on Blogspot or WordPress are examples of cloud services. This trend is experiencing considerable growth in recent years. There are indeed operating systems such as Firefox OS and ChromeOS that are designed for use with cloud software only. In addition, the latest versions of many popular software programs are almost all cloud software; Office 365, CC Photoshop, Dreamweaver CC, are some examples.
These Services have at least two inconveniences .First you pay (with money or providing personal data) to someone else who administers the equipment or software to be used. Secondly you are forced to comply with the terms and conditions imposed by your provider to use their services.
The solution to these problems is to create your own cloud. It is available on the web, on mobile or using a software OwnCloud can be installed on any type of web hosting or Linux server. In this first part we will present what is possible with Owncloud before showing in the second part how to install and administer your personal cloud.
File storage, calendar and address book are the basic services of Owncloud. You can synchronize your owncloud folders on your computer. More so, you can sync with your Dropbox or Google Drive accounts from a smartphone, a PC or the Web interface. Owncloud also offers an Office document viewer and PDF Online, a basic text editor and an audio streaming tool. The events stored on your calendar are the same files that can be shared with other users. And yes, you can create as many users as your server permit.
In addition to these basic functions you can install other cloud applications. A complete list of apps.owncloud.com. Suffice to describe some.
- Roundcube, the famous cloud-mail client can be installed on Owncloud and replace the one provided by your web host
- Video files viewers videostream and Embedded Video Viewer allows to watch movies and other videos on your cloud
- Application News provides you with all the latest articles from your favorite news sites
- The online chat is possible with JavaScript XMPP Chat or chat Owncloud
- Manage project and all members who participate and Collaborate
- Secure all your cloud files with Antivirus
- CloudPress and joomla user auth for synchronizing the connection between users and owncloud WordPress and Joomla respectively.
While it is clear that the success of Owncloud is based on the customization of Cloud services, its future development will depend on its integration capabilities. Would it be nice to manage all accounts yahoo, gmail, dropbox, google drive, onedrive, Dropbox etc, from a single and unique application? While waiting to be there, benefit from the advantages of Owncloud by installing and configurating the software. Details will be found in the second part.
