Cloud Computing Gains Momentum

Gartner recently released a report identifying "cloud computing" as an area of future expansion. This is one of the first signs of the business potential of web-based programs. These are accessed and distributed in a lightweight form online, rather than a bulky program you run on your computer. There's a lot of potential here for online communities. Increased migration to an online environment naturally means that programs that were previously not networked might be. For instance, consider an online editing program that integrates citations from a centralized database, rather than being limited to the Endnotes on an individual computer. Or content management systems (CMS) that integrate image and text editing, not just additions and deletions of content.