One application that I have used for as long as I can remember and never knew it was cloud based is Gmail, a system for exchanging emails.  It would only make sense though, as someone sends back and forth thousands of emails, and needs somewhere to store and save that information for future use.  This application likely would not work well if it were not on the cloud, because of all the storage required to maintain all the files, our devices would overload and crash frequently.  Having Gmail set up this way makes it so much easier as well to send things back and forth.  It allows for files and information to be readily available just with the internet, rather than finding files, uploading, and sending just for the other person to have to download and save your message.  Of course you still have the risk of spam, phishing, and a potential breach where you can lose important data if it isn’t backed up in any way.  Still, the convenience of the cloud probably trumps these risks in most cases.

Another application I use quite frequently that uses cloud based storage is Pandora.  It is an application that allows you to browse through tons of music and listen for free.  It was only a few years ago when they switched over to the cloud, and it runs a lot more smoothly now.  Because before they had to store all the music files to provide their listeners with, they had 13 billion stations supporting all the data, and still the usage was putting a strain on the programs and the workers, so the cloud based storage route is the better way.  This also makes it a whole lot faster and convenient for listeners.  There are risks of some small glitches, but nothing very damaging to the listener should be a concern. 

Sources:

“Gmail is an Example of What Type of Cloud Computing Service Model?”, Ratnesh, Security Escape, January 1, 2022, Accessed July 17, 2022, https://securityescape.com/gmail-is-an-example-of-what-type-of-cloud-computing-service-model/

“Why Pandora Is Moving Its Data to the Cloud”, Bob Keaveney, BizTech, April 11, 2019, Accessed July 17, 2022,  https://biztechmagazine.com/article/2019/04/why-pandora-moving-its-data-cloud-1