To be able to easily understand the true benefits of cloud computing, it’s always best to see some examples of it.

Social Networking

Perhaps the most famous use of cloud computing, which does not strike people as "cloud computing" at first glance is social networking Websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many, many others. The main idea of social networking is to find people you already know or people you would like to know and share your information with them. Of course, when you share your information with these people, you're also sharing it with the people who run the service.

No Need to Upgrade Local Storage

Data saved on your home or business computer is accessible only when you use the particular device. With cloud computing users are able to store all the files they need to access later on over the internet. One of such applications that we all use is the Google Drive. This is a pure cloud computing service, with all the storage found online so it can work with the cloud apps: Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides.

Collaboration Made Easy

Sharing documents and other files between your connections used to consume a lot of time and required buying sometimes expensive storage devices. With cloud computing, all this went to the last century – now with applications like Google Docs users can create files and invite others to edit, comment and collaborate with it in real time.

The Virtual Office

Probably the most popular use of the cloud computing is to enable business owners to “rent” software instead of buying it. That said, Microsoft offers a set of Web apps, now called Office Online, that are online-only versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote accessed via your Web browser without installing anything.

Cloud Hardware

Right now, the primary example of a device that is completely cloud-centric is the Chromebook. These are laptops that have just enough local storage and power to run the Chrome OS, which is essentially turning the Google Chrome Web browser into an operating system. With a Chromebook, most everything you do is online: apps, media, and storage are all in the cloud. Coming soon are ChromeBits, smaller-than-a-candy-bar drives (pictured) that turn any display with an HDMI port into a usable computer running Chrome OS.