Virtualization

Google's Chrome OS doesn't signal the apocalypse for Apple and Microsoft, but that doesn't mean the operating system won't succeed when it arrives next year. Just like the Chrome Web browser, Google's carving out a small slice of the market for people who want the company's buzzwords of speed, security and simplicity. Over time, the legion of Chrome OS fans will grow, and Google will look at its operating system as a success, not a failure, as my colleague Tony Bradley argues.

Critics are piling on the gripes about cloud computing service level agreements. But let's discuss the assumption that enterprise data centers operate at far higher availability rates than cloud providers: Frankly, I'm unconvinced.

Google has always been generous with its storage space for Gmail and Picasa, giving users roughly 7GB and 1GB, respectively, for free. For most people, this is plenty of room to accumulate e-mail and post high-resolution photos online and have them backed up and protected by Google's powerful servers. What some of you might not know is that Google offers additional storage at a price. Now those prices have been slashed and the storage increased -- but is it worth it?

What can you learn from a conversation with Japan's second-largest telco, which is also a cloud service provider? Plenty, says CIO.com's Bernard Golden.

CIO.com's Bernard Golden explains how to improve your dev/test operations using cloud computing. Consider these practical steps to take as you meld, not replace, your existing environment with the cloud.

A cloud environment can serve a company's dev/test needs better than the traditional, internal option, says CIO.com's Bernard Golden. Here's a breakdown of the key issues, from spiky usage to budget concerns, to consider.

When Microsoft's storage service for Sidekick users broke down, cloud computing questions sprang up -- both fair and unfair. CIO.com's Bernard Golden discusses what can be learned from this outage and looks at the likely outcomes for Microsoft, users and the cloud ecosystem.

U.S. federal government IT groups could easily stall cloud computing efforts because of security concerns, says CIO.com's Bernard Golden. Instead, they are pushing for the benefits of cloud at a rapid pace -- accompanied by appropriate security measures.

New analysis of how much work companies are doing in the cloud via Amazon Web Services proves that cloud is already viable for much more than startup needs or "toy" applications, CIO.com's Bernard Golden argues.

VMware's vCloud Express allows a sort of cloud in the box for IT buyers. Here's how it stacks up to rival Amazon's Web Services.