Google Offers a Wisp of Cloud Printing

              
                  On Monday beta-launched Cloud Print for mobile documents.


Google's new mobile cloud printing service is just a modest first step toward a driver-free, cord-free future.


"HTML5 is key to operating Cloud Print on mobile devices running Android 2.1+ and iOS 3+, noted Compuware CTO Imad Mouline. "HTML5 causes mobile apps to behave more like desktop or native applications."

No Drivers Required

One of the great promises of the cloud -- an aptly named, location-independent communications network becoming as ubiquitous as its older brother, the Web -- sounds as though it were heaven sent.
To use its many services, cloud computing requires no drivers -- none of those pesky programs that connect hardware to software via another annoying entity the cloud promises to make obsolete: the cord.

HTML5 @Home

On a desktop PC, Cloud Print requires Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 running Google Chrome version 9.0.597.1 or higher. Mac OS X and Linux don't support it. A wrench icon in Chrome's upper right corner drops down "Sign in to Google Cloud Print." A successful sign-in will list available printers as Cloud Print options.

HTML5 is key to operating Cloud Print on mobile devices running Android 2.1+ and iOS 3+.

Cloudy Security

Sending confidential documents over a cloud network raises two major security issues: public access and secure transmission.

Google Offers a Wisp of Cloud Printing