New media blogger and podcast host, Amber Mac, posted this diagram on her blog this morning. Above the graph Amber asks the question what does this mean? Here’s what I think the diagram means; cloud computing be it through Google, Zoho, or other service is universal.

Cloud Computing and Education
Cloud computing offers some great benefits for education. Cloud computing saves schools money. Google’s and Zoho’s productivity suites are free for students and teachers to use. Paying for the number of licensing agreements a school district needs to use proprietary productivity software can easily equal the cost of a teacher’s salary.

Google’s and Zoho’s office suites are as intuitive to use as any proprietary word processing or presentation software. In schools with a hodge-podge of computers and operating systems cloud computing is a great way to work around file compatibility issues. Cloud computing is a great way for students in schools without one-to-one computing to work on assignments from any Internet connected computer. There’s no need for them to worry about carrying flash drives or using the same computer every time they visit a computer lab.