Linux Magazine is a monthly magazine published in the UK. I have a subscription to this magazine, renewable every year for $109.90. The magazine ships every month to my post office box with a DVD containing at least one of the latest major Linux distros available, most times it comes with two or more. Now you all know how I get my Linux Distros.

The magazine will probably not be of much use to the newbies out there but to the intermediate users and the confirmed Linux nerds, it is a must have.

August 2010 edition of the magazine features an in-depth tutorial on Virtualization, just like the one we treated on this site a few weeks back. But instead of using Virtualbox, the writer focused on the use of VIRT-MANAGER, a free software too. Of note is the fact that there are a handful of softwares out there that can satisfy your virtualization needs, some free and some not, but what is probably important is for you to find the one that fits your needs.

The magazine went further to discuss the concept of “Cloud Desktop” or Cloud Computing as it is better known. Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand.

Cloud Computing allows you to have a familiar work environment with familiar desktop, programs and documents, no matter the computer you log in from.  All what is required from you is any workstation or mobile device with internet access. The processing speed of your device is not very important, be it a netbook or a smartphone, because the Operating system you will be using is  being hosted by powerful servers somewhere on the internet.

Out of curiosity, I tested this service using icloud from a Swedish company called Xcerion. They are offering a free 3GB service. It was a nice experience logging into my profile on my virtual PC, though the installed softwares on offer was quite limited. It could readily replace the online storage service that a few of us are subscribed to, you could easily access all your documents from wherever you are, especially when you are in an environment that do not encourage removable drives.

I t may take a while before a concept like this takes hold in Nigeria because the backbone this service is riding on, Internet Service, is very poor in most places. Navigating my desktop was a bit of a drag. As per logging in through my phone, it was a no-show. I couldn’t even bring up the interface to log in through.

Feel free to subscribe to this service, it is free. Point your PC browsers to http://os.icloud.com and your mobile browsers to http://icloud.com/mobile.