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Unit 6: Cloud Computing for the Corporation

Web-based scheduling programs let you schedule both in-person meetings and teleconferences Notes
with attendees from multiple locations. You are not limited to just those people located in your
office; you can work with the schedules of people around the country and even in different
firms.
Of course, much of this can be accomplished with simple Web-based calendar programs, such as
Google Calendar (calendar.google.com) and Yahoo! Calendar (calendar.yahoo.com). To take
advantage of the more advanced automatic scheduling features, however, you need to use an
industrial strength scheduling application, such as Appointment Quest
(www.appointmentquest.com), hitappoint (www.hitappoint.com), and Schedule book
(www.schedulebook.com). Naturally, these enterprise-level apps cost more to use than the free
Web-based calendars; expect to pay anywhere from INR 960 to INR 9600 subscription fees per
month.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. There is a ……………… node which is the only node responsible for users to submit jobs
into the cloud service.
2. Master node evaluates the best node which can execute the application on the basis of the
CPU availability of …………….. machines.
3. Web-based scheduling programs let you schedule both ……………… meetings and
…………………… with attendees from multiple locations.

4. Enterprise-level apps cost more to use than the free ……………………… calendars.

6.2 Managing Contact Lists

Out of all of the features on your average smart phone, the standard, run-of-the-mill Contacts
app is one that induces a fair amount of ambivalence. Sure, it’s a fine bin to stash the numbers
and email addresses of your family, friends and acquaintances, but it’s got an exceptional ability
to be, across the board, completely and totally unexceptional. The blase nature of the traditional
contacts app can be taken or just as easily left in a folder for minimal use.
But, perhaps most importantly, what the traditional contact managers actually show is the
relative little change it made in the process from analog to digital. In a lot of ways, a contact
manager can incorporate new, innovative services to not only help users take a smarter approach
to meeting new people but also transmit readily available information from social media
profiles directly into that contact profile. That sort of drastic improvement could turn the service
from dust-gathering afterthought to a must-use system.
Here’s a breakdown of five applications that are breaking the barriers of the traditional contact
managing system on the computer as well as mobile devices. The best part? Most of them have
free options that give a good bang for your (non-existent) buck.

6.2.1 Plaxo

One of the many startup love-children of Napster entrepreneur Sean Parker, Plaxo launched in
2002 as a combination address book/social network. The company had some decent success,
partnering with the likes of AOL and Comcast before the latter acquired the startup in 2008.
Last year, the company did a pivot, dropping its social networking arm in favor of going all-in
one contact management. The result is a sophisticated contacts manager that juggles multiple
accounts and backs up a comprehensive list of contacts across all platforms.

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