I've been to the Cloud

I love "The Cloud"!  I'm learning Python (an object-oriented programming language that has come into favor for web app development) from a very excited and smart teacher on Google.com.  Python is an easy language to learn and I think I'll have fun implementing a project using it.  Today we learned the basics of Google App Engine and again, I think I'll have fun implementing a project using it.  I wrote a short application to put a "guestbook" on the web and have people who visit my page (if I had a page) sign in.

I can already see applications I could do in New Orleans.  All non-profits should be looking at the Cloud,  specifically Google App Engine, for some things.  First of all, it (GAE) is free up to a whole lot of storage and web page visits, and second, it has many (maybe most) of the same apps that Microsoft has.  I don't think many non-profits could switch entirely from Microsoft because so much proprietary software only interfaces with Microsoft, but hopefully that will change as the Cloud movement gains momentum and interoperability and standards become the norm.  In the meantime, it is worth exploring for internal websites; for specialty one-time programs; for email--why use GoDaddy when you could use Gmail?  I'll be learning more about the administrative console and the whole suite of apps as I learn more about the development environment.  This is so much fun!