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Cloud Reportby Jeffrey Schwartz, Executive Editor

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Consumers Are Unfamiliar with Cloud Computing

Are your non-technical friends and family members familiar with the term cloud computing? If they're not, don't despair. Most people aren't, either.

Only 22 percent of consumers are familiar with the term cloud computing, according to a study conducted by NPD Group. But that doesn't mean they aren't using cloud computing to conduct various tasks and activities.

"Whether they understand the terminology or not, consumers are actually pretty savvy in their use of cloud-based applications," said Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, in a statement. "They might not always recognize they are performing activities in the cloud, yet they still rely on and use those services extensively. Even so, they are not yet ready to completely give up on traditional PC-based software applications."

Seventy-six percent of respondents to the researcher firm's "Digital Software and the Cloud Report" said they have used some sort of cloud service over the past year. Top services were e-mail, tax preparation and online gaming, NPD said.

Despite the emergence of cloud services, 24 percent of those surveyed said they purchased a computer-based software app over the past six months.

Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on August 11, 2011


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