WEEK 12: Social Tools and Cloud Computing

This week we discussed cloud computing, or server based computing. Cloud computing allows users to work from any computer with internet access because the applications or files being used are hosted off of a server and able to be accessed online. Google Docs is an example of cloud computing. The alternative, Microsoft Office or Open Office is installed on your computer. However, with Google Docs, the applications are online and your files are also saved online. This means that anyone with permission to access the Google Doc can open it up anywhere and continue editing it. Industry-wide, we're seeing a move to cloud computing with more and more services and applications hosting files in the cloud.

Telecommunication relies on cloud computing to some degree. I will create Google Groups with Google Docs of scripts, schedules, and contact information for the cast and crew to keep them up to date. However, cloud computing does not yet have a data infrastructure that can support the bandwidth required to perform video editing/rendering from the cloud. Which means in the meantime, I'm forced to store hundreds of gigabytes of video footage on numerous cumbersome external hard drives. As far as I'm concerned, the cloud couldn't come soon enough.

The Cloud and Microsoft
This is a neat site created by microsoft highlighting cloud computing technology, both present and future. With Microsoft Office's move towards cloud computing, I expect to see many more companies following suit.

WEEK 11: Open Source Software

This week we learned all about open source software. Open source software is any piece of software "for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed with or without modification". This means that most open source software has a thriving community of developers who are constantly working to improve the software and continuously release new updates. One of the best parts about open source software is that its free. Most software that exists today has an open source equivalent, such as Microsoft Office and Open Office or Photoshop and Gimp.

Open source software is quite valuable in the telecom field as most of the required software is absurdly expensive. Final Cut Pro is nearly $1000 on its own, so any opportunity to exchange a piece of software like that for a free open source equivalent is welcomed. However there aren't any editing programs to my knowledge that are open source. There are however, open source equivalents to other production software. Final Draft, a script writing program, has an open source equivalent called Celtx.

Celtx

This is a great example of a piece of open source software designed for the video production industry. Its the open source alternative to the script writing program Final Draft and its supported by an amazing team of developers and distributed online for free.