Skill Zone News issue 23
November has brought us headline-making storms, but clouds are sweeping into the world of technology too. This issue of the newsletter should help you understand some of the new terminology, and to decide if it represents new concepts, or just old ones reinvented.
25th November 2009
Computing in the clouds
The newest buzzword on the block is Cloud Computing. Someone, somewhere, wants to sell you a cloud computing solution. Is it the "next big thing" or just more marketing?
Google unveils Chrome OS
Microsoft dominates the operating system market with Windows but Google has been working on its own desktop operating system, Chrome OS, and it is firmly aimed at "cloud computing".
Penny for the Guy
Last week the Queen delivered her speech to Parliament which outlined her government's agenda for the next twelve months and included a number of interesting references to computing and communications.
WiFi for all
Swindon, a town in Wiltshire most famous as the site of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's railway works, and also for the baffling "Magic Roundabout" road junction, has become the first town in Britain to promise free WiFi internet access to all its residents.
The word of the year
Each year the Oxford American Dictionary publishes its Word Of The Year listing, and this year it is topped by a word used by armies of Facebook fans. That word is Unfriend.