Ready for the cloud? 74% of techies use 3 or more computers

IT workers are often the main opponents of clouds, mainly due to skepticism about the safety and security of personal data in the cloud. The new TechRepublic survey demonstrates that IT professionals themselves are the users who can get the most out of the cloud.

In a survey conducted in the first week of September, 74% of TechRepublic respondents indicated that they regularly use three or more computers in their daily work (see diagram below). Only six percent said they work from a single computer. In the survey description, TechRepublic members were asked to indicate only the computers with which they work, and not the computers of other persons whom they help solve problems.

Below are some comments from TechRepublic members about how and why they use multiple computers:

• “I have 6 different systems running simultaneously, and most of them run virtual systems” ( HAL 9000 )
  
• “I have several test systems, 2 main and 2 Linux-systems, and a desktop server (based on the desktop), just for work. At home I have 1 desktop (in fact, 3, but I rarely use them) and 2 outdated laptops, which I rarely turn on, because there is a worker. ”( The Scummy One )
• “As a developer, I have a laptop for working at home and on the road, a development desktop, a test PC with many virtual machines, and several PCs with services and outdated applications.” ( Nfrost )
• “I have destopes with Windows and Linux for my daily work as a sysadmin. At home, there is a Linux desktop crash, a 17 "portable on Windows and a 9" netbook. ( Geromyh )
• “I try to avoid messing around with virtualization and dual booting, and I prefer to use separate systems for Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7 and various Linux experiments. I switch between them using the KVM switch. I also sometimes use laptops and shop computers. Does Windows Home Server count as a computer? ”( John3347 )
• “Three at work and two at home. In the old days of green screens, I had 12 terminals! ”( Ryoung )
• “Desktop and laptop, plus a home server, which does not require special attention. However, all computers are multiboot, so that I can interact with ten or more operating systems (Windows and Linux) per week. ”( Dogcatcher )
• “Is my BlackBerry considered a PC?” I do almost everything with him. ”( Thestradas )

Cloud computing can give these ITCs easy access to files and applications from multiple computers without messing with scripts and shared folders. In fact, even small cloud-based applications like Xmarks , which syncs bookmarks in different browsers and computers, can be extremely valuable for workers jumping from one machine to another.

Therefore, I think that it is very likely that an increasing number of technical experts will tinker with cloud services such as Xmarks, Google Docs , Evernote , etc., but using them exclusively for their own non-critical files and data.

But can cloud computing games bring IT workers closer to using the cloud for corporate data and applications that are entrusted to them? This is still a tricky business. As a member of TechRepublic Osiyo53 wrote : “Keep developments, materials, applications, etc. "Somewhere in the cloud"? That is unlikely. We already had unpleasant situations when we stole ideas, knowledge, ideas and sold as our own. The bottom line is that we do not trust systems that we do not directly control ourselves. ”