Cloud Cuckoo Land

[getaboat]

I saw a lady the other night on TV saying "her life was in The Cloud". After I mopped up (I was eating at the time), I started thinking a bit about this and in my view what this means, in my simplistic way of thinking, is doing all your PC apps through a browser. And this seems to be the way things are going. My kids for instance wouldn't dream of using an email client whereas an old fuddy-duddy like me still likes the reassurance of Thunderbird.

Much as Google has some great stuff - Gmail, Maps,Google Docs and calendar - It's all still Google and - I still can't bring myself to trust them. I feel uncomfortable about having "my stuff" not held locally.

I also had a look at G.ho.st but WTF? Am I missing something? Are there non-Google alternatives for a life online? And is a browser based PC life by definition OS independant?

If you want to email, surf, do documents, organise pics (and that is all a lot of people want to do) then I think you could live on the web.

However, I do some development and that has to be on my PC and servers - but I think there will be a growing class of PC/Phone users for whom "cloud living" is the norm.

Why can't you live in "The Cloud"?

[Skripka]

About the only people who think "Cloud Computing" is a great idea are the monkeys (or are they bots?) at the typewriters who produce CNet...about twice every week they'll have a new article espousing the virtues of it.

[parker13]

Stop and think about what you are saying. As internet technology gets better there will be no reason to be tied to a desktop. Access all of your content wherever you are with whatever device. "Cloud" might be a current buzzword, but it is the future. You might we wary of Google, but the alternative is much worse.

[Skripka]

Stop and think about what you are saying. As internet technology gets better there will be no reason to be tied to a desktop. Access all of your content wherever you are with whatever device. "Cloud" might be a current buzzword, but it is the future. You might we wary of Google, but the alternative is much worse.

Maybe for younger wankers ;)

The ISPs around here all SUCK. I'd never trust needing a 24 hour internet connection to do anything to any of the bozo ISPs around here (noteable names like Cox or Time-Warner).


"Cloud Computing" might be the future-but that doesn't mean it is a good idea.

It is faster, and cheaper, and more reliable for me to have a HDD or Flash key with everything on it-than trusting a server run by one of 2 megacorps to be available and accessable when I need it. This is true now-and it will be for the foreseeable future.

I'm old school :p

[mister_pink]

I have all my work and apps with me wherever I go. I use a device called a "USB flash drive". Cunning stuff. Nothing the web can offer will ever be able to stand up to a traditional desktop application, they have to work within such a limited set of constraints. Google mail is good, but still no thunderbird. Google docs offers none of the functionality I find in openoffice, or better in latex. I think its just a fad.

[Sealbhach]

I want all my base are belong to me, not to Google or Microsoft or anyone else. I want it all, the important stuff, within the metal case my computer came in.

Maybe I'm hopelessly old-fashioned.[-(

.

[parker13]

Since about 10 years ago, the PC is nothing without the Internet.

Do I care that Google have my emails? No.

Do I care that they have my letters to my sodding bank manager? No.

Do I like to access my stuff from anywhere? Yes.

Do I worry about losing a flash drive with all my stuff on it?

[parker13]

Let's get real; Google doesn't care about your petty secrets. Google just
wants to shaft Microsoft, as do we all. So what's the problem?

Aren't people always calling you paranoid?!

[Skripka]

Since about 10 years ago, the PC is nothing without the Internet.

Do I care that Google have my emails? No.

Do I care that they have my letters to my sodding bank manager? No.

Do I like to access my stuff from anywhere? Yes.

Do I worry about losing a flash drive with all my stuff on it?

How is a PC "nothing" without the internet? A PC is how MOST work gets down on a local level. By professional Apps. If by "nothing" you mean it is hard to **** around on a computer on Facebook now without internet-then I suppose yes it is.

The simple fact of the matter-professional softwares cannot be run via cloud. Bandwidth simply does not exist-or if it does it is highly impractical from a $$$$ standpoint. Not only that-it is not reliable.

If by "Cloud Computing" you mean dicking around on internet forums and typing high-school book reports-then sure it is a great idea.


Running Adobe Acrobat, or Maya, or Finale or Sibelius for instance-will never happen via cloud. It just won't. Either the bandwidth will not exist, or the license will prohibit it. As such, "Cloud Computing" will forever be one of those wacky ideas that seemed good to some at the time. There will always be local storage with apps stored on it, professional software licensing will see to that.