Term "CLOUD"

Recent Microsoft advertisement http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdqoQ0zL7GQ&feature=related on Cloud computing seems to be an attempt to popularise the term "Cloud" with consumers. It is interesting to note that where terms such as "Software-as-a-Service", "Service Oriented architecure", etc. failed in the past to catch on, "cloud" stands a good chance of catching on because it is a simple word that is not abstract, is not tech heavy and can be related to real world cloud in a way that makes it intuitive to understand what it is all about.

Google trends http://www.google.com/trends is a great tool to track popularity of terms over a period of time across geographies, regions, etc. It is a fun tool to use to track trends or catch them early. Typing the term "cloud" in google trends brings up following chart...



Average worldwide search volume from 2004 to present is scaled down and mapped to 1.0on y-axis of this chart. What this chart then shows is how search traffic changes from the average over a period of time. Till about end of 2007, average search volume for the term "Cloud" did not vary much from the long-term average and it is safe to assume that till this point in time, people interest was in real clouds. There is a marked increase in the term cloud in 2008 that accelerates during 2009 and really takes off in 2010. Unless people suddenly became interested in real clouds all over the world, this steep increase can only be attributed to new interest in the tech representation of the term "cloud". Though spike B in the chart is due to the interest in volcanic ash cloud over iceland.

Searching for term "Cloud Computing" brings up a similar picture.



Interesting to note is the comparison between the terms "Saas" and "Cloud Computing". Though average search volume for "Saas" is higher, which is expected since the term came into being much earlier, the trend clearly shows growing popularity of Cloud as compared to stagnant or waning popularity of "Saas" term.



Here's another chart showing relative popularity of "SaaS" and "SOA" terms. Declining trend of popularity for these terms is clearly visible in the chart.



I find Google trends not only fun to use but also very useful in getting a feel of what's on the mind of people . Are people worried about the economy?. Is Inflation or deflation a bigger concern?. Using google trends one can find answers to such questions. One can get insights into businesses by looking at search volume trends. Searching for "Amazon" brings up the chart below. One can get so many insights into amazon business using this chart. The long term upward trend that probably matches Amazon stock price. The spikes come in regularly every year during the christmas season. 2007 spike was an exceptional one, maybe that has to do with the economic conditions prevailing at that time....