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When asked the question: "Do you trust the cloud?," the majority of responses either came back as a flat-out "no" or as a longer explanation as to why their response was a "maybe" or a "sometimes." Some said the cloud was trustworthy enough for non-critical data, but not for secure and private communications, such as those used in the enterprise.

Google's investment is part of a broad movement toward "cloud computing," a literally hazy term for a concept that takes outsourcing, software as a service, and similar rent-don't-own trends to their logical conclusion. Think of it as a ubiquitous Wi-Fi hotspot that can satisfy all of a company's computing needs, from software applications to data to communications and collaboration. No more data centers; everything you need is "out there" in the cloud, accessible for a fee. Or fees.

I know I would have a really hard time going back to paying for simple things like word processing and note taking applications - especially ones without the advanced syncing I've come to expect.