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Student Work

Cloud Services

Like most Americans I know, the two cloud computing services I use most often are those provided by Microsoft and Google. I try to use both more or less equally for different reasons so that I do not become too dependent on any one corporation.

As a designer, I am also entangled with Adobe’s “Creative Cloud”, which is how they now deliver their creative suite.

Both clouds offer storage (Google drive, OneDrive), and a suite of office productivity apps. The google apps, including Google Drive, can generally only be accessed on a computer via browser, though there are native apps for Android and IOS. Microsoft, OTOH, offers native apps for desktop users, both Windows and Mac. The desktop OneDrive app integrates seamlessly with your computer’s native storage, even on a Mac!

The consumer Google cloud is generally free to the end user, while the Microsoft cloud generally requires a paid subscription, though it may be included with the purchase of hardware. This is a mixed blessing for the user, however, since Google is making their money by tracking you. Microsoft products are expensive, but the fact that they make their money from me is actually reassuring. They also have better support.

In general, I prefer Google for Email, and for collaborative work on documents and presentations, but Microsoft for more or less everything else.

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