The Desktop is just a mechanism to connect to the cloud

[mdgrech]

You read the title, what are you thoughts? Personally my desktop computer is starting to solely exist as a mechanism to connect to the cloud.

All my email is stored via Gmail, I no longer have music stored on my hard drive relying on web based services such as Pandora, and Last.fm Likewise the majority of my files are stored on a remote server, using Places>>connect to server I create a bookmark of the remote location, allowing me to interact with the files as if they were stored on my own desktop.

What are your thought?

[FuturePilot]

I hate the cloud

[OutOfReach]

I hate the cloud

+0.5, I like some cloud services but not all. The only ones that I really like are Pandora and Dropbox

[tgalati4]

The cloud is fine.

Until it rains.

[pookiebear]

I like the idea of not having to restore 50 gbs of pictures for a customer who never backed up their data. Give them the cloud. Companies can use the cloud to archive old data files so there isn't accounting data from 1980 being put to tape every night (seriously happens) give them the cloud. you got to match the need to the cloud. Some stuff like encrypted email storage of govt contracts...probably not giving them the cloud. but maybe I Am wrong...

[Firestem4]

I don't believe in Cloud-Computing for many (and many will agree with me) Valid reasons.

Cloud-Computer does offer many useful advantages, and I won't deny there are some unique properties to it, like not being restricted to where you are. And virtualization allows for your to use your available resources to their full efficiency.

But I don't like using any service I don't have full control over. I use and like gmail, but that is generally the most extent I'll go...Whenever people start hosting OS's on cloud-computers and storing all of their data on someone elses computer, I sure as hell won't be. For security and privacy reasons, i don't want my personal and important data to be handled by someone else. You can't know (and i wouldn't put it past ANY company in this position) that they wouldn't mine data.

Not to mention you have to pay for a service, and as soon as you stop paying for that service you have no access whatsoever to everything you have with your 'cloud-computer'

This is the same issue with the new OnLive. Sure, it is a great idea, but it is cloud-computing and an incredibly efficient DRM (Digital Rights Management) scheme. You pay for a service. The service allows you to "purchase" and play games through their Service. But if you stop paying you just loose a few hundred dollars (or more or less), of games that you never really owned in the first place. You basically paid a lot of money for the rights to play the game so long as you paid for their service.

Though, You can also set up your own home to provide you these resources..Mail servers, ssh -x and etc.

[mamamia88]

the cloud is cool and all for those features you mentioned but i always want a local copy for important stuff

[K.Mandla]

I hate the cloud
+1. The cloud is a lie.

[mdgrech]

Wow that got quite a big response very fast. Personally I use rsync to backup all my files nightly to my remote web server. This way I can access them anywhere I go. I'm storing the files on my web server Dreamhost who gives me 50gb for personal storage, and considering you can scoop up a Dreamhost account for as little as $10 a year using a coupon this is amazing.

There is an old saying that says if your truly concerned about the security of your data, disconnect your computer from the internet, and lock it up. Sure Gmail, or Mozy, or even Drop Box could mine your data, but if caught they will suffer a huge lose. They will most likely be sued, millions of customers will leave, and the company will see a great exodous. Would Mozy for example really risk losing everything to mine your data? I think not.

[lykwydchykyn]

I don't know if I'll ever really understand what fundamentally separates "the cloud"(TM) from "Using the Internet". People mention gmail, pandora, lastfm, and dropbox. 10 years ago we had hotmail, mp3.com, shoutcast, and geocities. Sure it's easier, faster, and bigger; but I'm not sure how fundamentally it changes what you can do.

Is it just a question of putting your data on some other server? If that's all the cloud really amounts to, count me out. I guess I must be an old-fashioned oddball, but most days I'm either at home, or two miles away at work. I've rarely found myself in desperate need of a piece of data located in one place or the other, but if I am there's ssh. Everytime they talk about having access to my "data" from anywhere, I wonder where they think I'm gonna be and what they think I'm gonna need?

Maybe I'll understand it some day.

[MikeTheC]

With apologies to Stephen Sondheim and Frank Sinatra:


Isn't it rich?
Are we a pair?
Me here at last on the client,
You in mid-air.
Send in the clouds.

Isn't it bliss?
Don't you authenticate?
One who keeps https'ing around,
One who can't POP.
Where are the clouds?
Send in the clouds.

Just when I'd stopped
Opening ports,
Finally knowing
The one that I pinged was yours,
Making my login again
With my usual flair,
Sure of my IP,
No one is there.

Don't you love a WAN?
My fault, I fear.
I thought that you'd FTP what I want -
Sorry, my dear.
But where are the clouds?
There ought to be clouds.
Quick, send in the clouds.

What a surprise.
Who could foresee
I'd come to feel about you
What you'd felt about me?
Why only now when I see
That you'd drifted away?
What a surprise.
What a cliché.

Isn't it rich?
Isn't it IMAP?
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
And where are the clouds?
Quick, send in the clouds.
Don't bother - they're here.

[swoll1980]

+1. The cloud is a lie.

+2 the cloud must die.

[H2SO_four]

+2 the cloud must die.

+1 to your +2. Not a fan of cloud computing for all the reasons people like cloud computing. I'm not disliking it for the sake of disliking.

*Begin sweeping generalizations*

The cloud computing is what is needed for the new "netbook" underpowered laptops that are ultra portable. Online storage of your data, web apps etc. Whats wrong with current laptops? nothing.

I don't mean this to start bashing anything, I can see why some users would like the idea. It just doesn't work for me.

*end

[rookcifer]

Cloud computing is much like the software equivalent of ISP caps. That is, what we used to get for a one time fee (operating systems, software, etc.) we will have to pay a monthly fee for with the cloud (much like ISP's now want to meter everyone's bandwidth instead of charing the flat rate that has worked for so long). This is often dubbed "software as a service" or SAAS. This is merely a way for companies like M$ to entrench their tentacles even further into our pocket books and our lives.

No thanks. I want my data on my own machine where I can be sure that if anything happens to it, it is my fault. The only thing we can hope is that M$ doesn't "nudge" the hardware makers into crippling what we now know as a PC so that the definition of a PC conforms to what M$ says it should be (basically an underpowered and crippled worthless POS that can only connect to the net). And, we all know their track record on such matters...

Cloud computing is the antithesis of net neutrality.

[Jimleko211]

I think Cloud Computing is fine, but I personally only use it to transfer files to my friends faster than an IM transfer would. I like having the copy of the file on my hard drive, so I don't lose access to it in case of a power outage or something similar.

[SupaSonic]

I hate the cloud

The thread should have ended right there. :)

[karellen]

I hate the idea of relying on a connection to access my data.I want my data locally, accessible anytime. I guess "the cloud" it's not for me. I'd rather buy one or two 1 Tb hard drives than pay a monthly fee for online backup, online music and so on.

[nandemonai]

Is the idea behind cloud computing really to forgo local storage and rely on online storage? Perhaps I missed something...

[dspari1]

A standard cable/dsl connection isn't really fast enough for cloud computing.

[linuxguymarshall]

Personally I am pushing the cloud as much as I possibly can. But still I keep all important files on a flash drive because when the cloud rains, it is going to rain hard.

[Rainstride]

it should be 9 parts desktop and 1 part cloud max. if you go mostly cloud you are giving away your rights, you store files in the cloud, say good by to you right to privacy. and so on. that being said, i think for certain things it is good. but this idea some people have that eventually we will just have computers to connect to the cloud is absurd.

i mean really, you think paranoid people like my self and going to get rid of our high powered system encryption and trust our files to the "Cloud"?

[linuxguymarshall]

I have actually created my own Cloud server running Apache and eyeOS. It is all I need.

No loss of freedom or privacy.

[Rainstride]

I have actually created my own Cloud server running Apache and eyeOS. It is all I need.

No loss of freedom or privacy.

? how hard was it? and what kind of security do you use? ssh or something?

[linuxguymarshall]

? how hard was it? and what kind of security do you use? ssh or something?


Depending on what you mean it was either easy or hard. For example, Apache was easy to set up and eyeOS is a simple, one-click PHP installer (Check their site for more info). But my ISP (Verizon) does not allow things like MP3s and video to be transmitted over an unsecure, public network. I forgot exactly how I set that up but I will check my server later and tell you.

[sim-value]

Isnst Cloud Computing connecting Multiple Computers to each other and let them Compute togther ?

[frrobert]

You read the title, what are you thoughts? Personally my desktop computer is starting to solely exist as a mechanism to connect to the cloud.

All my email is stored via Gmail, I no longer have music stored on my hard drive relying on web based services such as Pandora, and Last.fm Likewise the majority of my files are stored on a remote server, using Places>>connect to server I create a bookmark of the remote location, allowing me to interact with the files as if they were stored on my own desktop.

What are your thought?

This is not a comment against the cloud but keeping your eggs in one basket. What do you do when one of your provider has a failure and can not restore your data? I knew one person whose email provider lost all their email in a hard drive failure and the backup was corrupt and everything was lost.

Moral of the story if you use the cloud make sure you back it up.

[linuxguymarshall]

Isnst Cloud Computing connecting Multiple Computers to each other and let them Compute togther ?


No, I don't feel like typing out a nice vivid description of cloud computer but here, a picture is worth a 1000 words. http://blog.brothersoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/eyeos.jpg

Basically upload all your files to a computer (The 'Cloud') and access them from anywhere. A good example is Google Docs or Picasa, or any social networking for that matter.

[HavocXphere]

Been think about this lately...

It assumes one has access to a fast & unlimited internet connection. Not a reality everywhere.

Many of these services rely on Amazons S3 cloud. Amazon provides zero guarantees of data safety...so one still need to do backups.

It results in a *lot* of duplication. e.g. Google stores emails etc over multiple servers and they have a policy of every byte being duplicated *at least* 3x. And thats on servers running 24/7. So effectively my one piece of data is duplicated 5x plus (1x my PC, 3x+ Google servers, 1x backups)

Its not clear how long the stuff stays in the cloud. Will the cloud just grow ad infinitum?

Its not clear whether the internet can handle large scale cloud usage. The infrastructure is already pushed to its limits with IPTV & torrents...and now people want to move significant portions of their data too.

Also, I think Stallman has a point. A *lot* of control is being sacrificed to gain the benefits of cloud computing. (On balance the benefits outweigh the lost control though imo)

/end skepticism

One thing I think where it has serious potential is saving ubuntu configs. :KS

Just got my UbuntuOne invite yesterday and already connected to Dropbox and Skydrive. UbuntuOne and Skydrive are *way* behind Dropbox imo.

[pookiebear]

Isnst Cloud Computing connecting Multiple Computers to each other and let them Compute togther ?


That is clustering.

[hessiess]

Personaly my number 1 rule is: Never trust ANYTHING you dont controal, so cloud computing is something I have absolutly no interest in unless I own and have physical controal over the server(s).

[koenn]

The cloud is fine.

Until it rains.

and when it rains, it pours

[jbruced]

This whole thread and forum application is in the cloud, we use the cloud everyday(well most of us here), and maybe don't even realize it.

For big business disaster recovery, its the only way to go. For a fraction of the cost of building your own off-site data storage facility, businesses can encrypt and archive to various hosts around the world.(more than one basket)

To access your data anywhere, either bring it with you(impractical sometimes), use the cloud and access it anywhere you can access the web, or build your own server and leave it accessable. That's it, those are your only 3 choices.

With all that freedom you still run the risk of losing access when your data host breaks down or your isp chokes, so local apps and data can keep you working(or playing) and for some, the transfer speeds just aren't enough for a comfortable user experience.

I keep stuff on the cloud and local. I've used the cloud to restore data, and it was a life saver. In most cases, a professional cloud based service company will do a lot more than the individual user to backup and protect valuable data.

For those who can use it, its great, for others who don't trust it, or don't need it, it'll be there if they ever find they do need it.

Gives us more options.

[benj1]

I don't know if I'll ever really understand what fundamentally separates "the cloud"(TM) from "Using the Internet". People mention gmail, pandora, lastfm, and dropbox. 10 years ago we had hotmail, mp3.com, shoutcast, and geocities. Sure it's easier, faster, and bigger; but I'm not sure how fundamentally it changes what you can do.

Is it just a question of putting your data on some other server? If that's all the cloud really amounts to, count me out. I guess I must be an old-fashioned oddball, but most days I'm either at home, or two miles away at work. I've rarely found myself in desperate need of a piece of data located in one place or the other, but if I am there's ssh. Everytime they talk about having access to my "data" from anywhere, I wonder where they think I'm gonna be and what they think I'm gonna need?

Maybe I'll understand it some day.

its branding, like web 2.0

im not against the clound per se, email, backup and such, would i entrust it with everything? no
mainly the lack of open source, theres the AGPL but its very under used, even canonical don't think open source in the cloud is important (see ubuntu one).

[FuturePilot]

This whole thread and forum application is in the cloud, we use the cloud everyday(well most of us here), and maybe don't even realize it.


I don't see this forum as part of the cloud. For one it doesn't function as online storage. For another, it doesn't try to replicate an already existing application on the desktop. e.g. Google Docs replicating a desktop word processor.

[lykwydchykyn]

+1 to your +2. Not a fan of cloud computing for all the reasons people like cloud computing. I'm not disliking it for the sake of disliking.

*Begin sweeping generalizations*

The cloud computing is what is needed for the new "netbook" underpowered laptops that are ultra portable. Online storage of your data, web apps etc. Whats wrong with current laptops? nothing.

I don't mean this to start bashing anything, I can see why some users would like the idea. It just doesn't work for me.

*end

Well, if the netbook market is any indication, cloud computing is not catching on.

The first netbooks were cloud clients to be sure: small, minimal OS, no hard drive space to speak of, few local apps. It didn't take six months before people wanted to fill them up with 300 GB hard drives and Windows XP (so they could run Windows applications on them). They stopped being "netbooks" at that point and became "really small laptops".

It all seems like a redo of Suns "Internet Appliance" flop from the late 90's. Same idea, just on the desktop.

[koenn]

I don't know if I'll ever really understand what fundamentally separates "the cloud"(TM) from "Using the Internet". People mention gmail, pandora, lastfm, and dropbox. 10 years ago we had hotmail, mp3.com, shoutcast, and geocities. Sure it's easier, faster, and bigger; but I'm not sure how fundamentally it changes what you can do.

Is it just a question of putting your data on some other server? If that's all the cloud really amounts to, count me out. I guess I must be an old-fashioned oddball, but most days I'm either at home, or two miles away at work. I've rarely found myself in desperate need of a piece of data located in one place or the other, but if I am there's ssh. Everytime they talk about having access to my "data" from anywhere, I wonder where they think I'm gonna be and what they think I'm gonna need?

Maybe I'll understand it some day.


its branding, like web 2.0.
it's branding and hype, and a small shift.
It goes a bit beyond simply using webmail or backups over the internet.

The main shift is that the cloud is supposed to deliver applications that replace locally installed software, eg what googledocs does to compete with an office suite, but then for just about any conceivable application. Consequently, you'd have your databases and files also stored on a service provider's servers, because all or most processing will no be done there, and therefore backups etc. will also be outsourced to the cloud.

An other aspect is the "software as a service" approach where software is delivered to desktops where it can be used for a limited time, i.e as long as you pay your subscription fees.

Basically, the cloud aims to replace to servers that enterprises now run themselves. Home users is just small potatoes, or act as a test bed (e.g. for google labs beta software a.o.)

Vendor lock-in is a very real danger, because you've given up control over where and how your data are stored and how you can access them, so migration to other systems, or even integration between software from different providers may become extremely difficult in such scenarios.

[mdgrech]

Everyone keeps bring up the issue of losing data via the cloud, but when I back up to the cloud my data is stored in multiple data centers all around the world, if one data center fails I will still be able to get at my data. This is the essence of services like amazon ec2.

When you place your information on the cloud you are entrusting it a group of professionals whose sole job is to maintain the integrity of the server, I would certainly trust Amazons massive inforstructure for more then I would my own personal hard drive and a simple external hard drive setup. The cloud is the future, Ubuntu seems to realize this with their landscape services which let you manage hordes of computers all via the web and also with their ubuntu net book remix OS.

[Delever]

I see cloud as just another case to make you do something someone else wants.

Another case of OMG IDEA! http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1185661

[pwnst*r]

You read the title, what are you thoughts? Personally my desktop computer is starting to solely exist as a mechanism to connect to the cloud.

All my email is stored via Gmail, I no longer have music stored on my hard drive relying on web based services such as Pandora, and Last.fm Likewise the majority of my files are stored on a remote server, using Places>>connect to server I create a bookmark of the remote location, allowing me to interact with the files as if they were stored on my own desktop.

What are your thought?

i don't mind using cloud services. gaming will still prove that i need things locally. don't get me started on that new service that claims they have the issue to lag. until i use it, i won't believe it.

[pwnst*r]

Everyone keeps bring up the issue of losing data via the cloud, but when I back up to the cloud my data is stored in multiple data centers all around the world, if one data center fails I will still be able to get at my data. This is the essence of services like amazon ec2.

When you place your information on the cloud you are entrusting it a group of professionals whose sole job is to maintain the integrity of the server, I would certainly trust Amazons massive inforstructure for more then I would my own personal hard drive and a simple external hard drive setup. The cloud is the future, Ubuntu seems to realize this with their landscape services which let you manage hordes of computers all via the web and also with their ubuntu net book remix OS.

/winnar.

[cmay]

i will never have anything to do with to cloud. i will fight for my right not to use it. i do not like it and i do not trust it.

[jbruced]

I don't see this forum as part of the cloud. For one it doesn't function as online storage. For another, it doesn't try to replicate an already existing application on the desktop. e.g. Google Docs replicating a desktop word processor.

I see it as its own online application because it won't work on your computer without "cloud" connectivity, and it stores everything you or I have ever posted here.

[jbruced]

everyone keeps bring up the issue of losing data via the cloud, but when i back up to the cloud my data is stored in multiple data centers all around the world, if one data center fails i will still be able to get at my data. This is the essence of services like amazon ec2.

When you place your information on the cloud you are entrusting it a group of professionals whose sole job is to maintain the integrity of the server, i would certainly trust amazons massive inforstructure for more then i would my own personal hard drive and a simple external hard drive setup. The cloud is the future, ubuntu seems to realize this with their landscape services which let you manage hordes of computers all via the web and also with their ubuntu net book remix os.

+1

[Regenweald]

The cloud is a bad idea for personal computing. It is a GREAT enterprise solution. I have no interest in surrendering my personal data or information to a bunch of anonymous individuals to do what i can efficiently do on my own.

'I don't store music anymore, i just use pandora.' what happens when pandora goes down, or is bought by a company that decides it is an exclusive paying service.

There are many other hypothetical instances that can be drawn, but basically, I have no intention of handing the responsibility of managing my everyday computing and digital life over to someone else, no matter how shiney the service is wrapped. I will always be competent enough to do that on my own.

I saw a commercial recently for an american company that prevents identity theft by storing and monitoring ALL your id. Taking over your life basically and managing it for you. That made me very uncomfortable. One disgruntled employee, one crazy that slips through the cracks.... and there are many more than just the one out there.

[Sinkingships7]

The cloud is fine.

Until it rains.

Aye. You'd all be wise to take more from this statement than may have been intended.

Anyway, I've decided to rely on the iGoogle portion of the cloud for bookmarks and widgets. It's better to have everything brought to me and stored on a server elsewhere, since too often I find that I'm testing the latest build of a different browser, or installing a new operating system. At some point, you just get tired of making bookmarks and settings backups every couple days. :p

[HavocXphere]

i will never have anything to do with to cloud. i will fight for my right not to use it. i do not like it and i do not trust it.
You can always encrypt the stuff. There are encryption algo out there that are sync friendly so that it doesn't re-upload the entire archive every time you change something.

Or just avoid using the cloud for stuff that is sensitive.

[spoons]

I don't like the cloud, or anything about it.

It's essentially, everything you could do before, but now you have less control! What a great idea! (but not for you)

I feel it's a backwards idea, you're essentially taking data that exists on a very high speed storage space, and moving it to a slow one you access over the internet. It's not yours anymore. You can't truly delete something from the cloud and know it's ACTUALLY deleted. I will never join the cloud. It's just another trick to take power away from us and put it in the hands of people who want to take control from you and then they have that control.

[Mateo]

I don't believe in Cloud-Computing for many (and many will agree with me) Valid reasons.

Cloud-Computer does offer many useful advantages, and I won't deny there are some unique properties to it, like not being restricted to where you are. And virtualization allows for your to use your available resources to their full efficiency.

But I don't like using any service I don't have full control over. I use and like gmail, but that is generally the most extent I'll go...Whenever people start hosting OS's on cloud-computers and storing all of their data on someone elses computer, I sure as hell won't be. For security and privacy reasons, i don't want my personal and important data to be handled by someone else. You can't know (and i wouldn't put it past ANY company in this position) that they wouldn't mine data.

Not to mention you have to pay for a service, and as soon as you stop paying for that service you have no access whatsoever to everything you have with your 'cloud-computer'

This is the same issue with the new OnLive. Sure, it is a great idea, but it is cloud-computing and an incredibly efficient DRM (Digital Rights Management) scheme. You pay for a service. The service allows you to "purchase" and play games through their Service. But if you stop paying you just loose a few hundred dollars (or more or less), of games that you never really owned in the first place. You basically paid a lot of money for the rights to play the game so long as you paid for their service.

Though, You can also set up your own home to provide you these resources..Mail servers, ssh -x and etc.

Question, can your home server show you financial records while you are at work? Can it play music to you while you are on vacation?

Does your home server push email to your phone? Does it push new rss posts to your phone?

Now do you see the advantage of the cloud?

[Gizenshya]

A week or two ago I go to log in to my university email acocunt and I get I notice I don't have some emails that I was expecting... thinking they just had not yet sent them, I ignore it. I check again.. same thing. I send myself an email from another account, and it never arrives. I call the university's tech support for the network et al and they say it's mved, and they gave me the new way to log in... a portal... on a google server.

needless to say I wasn't happy with the move, but there isn't anything I can do... just backup what I have and have them forward email to somewhere I choose (even though I pay them for a service that they no longer perform). *arg*

[Mateo]

I hate the idea of relying on a connection to access my data.I want my data locally, accessible anytime. I guess "the cloud" it's not for me. I'd rather buy one or two 1 Tb hard drives than pay a monthly fee for online backup, online music and so on.

This is just a myth though, no disrespect. Who's more likely to have server/computer troubles, average joe, mean income $35k or Google, yearly income of 19 billion?

[privatejarhead]

I hate the cloud

+1. I would like not to have to pay to store my private data on some far away computer. the most i'm willing to risk is my email...even that, i backup my data to my hard drive/external/flashdrive/second computer

[Mateo]

I have actually created my own Cloud server running Apache and eyeOS. It is all I need.

No loss of freedom or privacy.

This is great! I'd like to learn more about it. How do you connect? Via RDP or a browser or how? Very interesting technology.

[privatejarhead]

Question, can your home server show you financial records while you are at work? Can it play music to you while you are on vacation?

Does your home server push email to your phone? Does it push new rss posts to your phone?

Now do you see the advantage of the cloud?

1) smartphone/flasdrive/etc

2) mp3 player

3) phone w/internet connection

4) smartphone/etc

there are advantages to cloud-computing, yes, but i see it as mainly for businesses that need access to important files wherever they go and not having to backup everything onto their hard drives on their laptops and etc. but for personal use, there are devices out there that do the job much better than could can, plus i value privacy and control over my data over what i see to be a careless way to store data. it also sucks whenever you have to pay for data storage when you have a perfectly fine hard drive/flashdrive/external at home.

[Mateo]

I keep stuff on the cloud and local. I've used the cloud to restore data, and it was a life saver. In most cases, a professional cloud based service company will do a lot more than the individual user to backup and protect valuable data.


Great point, I'm a power user and even i don't back anything up. It's a big relief to me know that so much of what i do is safe.

[Mateo]

1) smartphone/flasdrive/etc

2) mp3 player

3) phone w/internet connection

4) smartphone/etc

there are advantages to cloud-computing, yes, but i see it as mainly for businesses that need access to important files wherever they go and not having to backup everything onto their hard drives on their laptops and etc. but for personal use, there are devices out there that do the job much better than could can, plus i value privacy and control over my data over what i see to be a careless way to store data. it also sucks whenever you have to pay for data storage when you have a perfectly fine hard drive/flashdrive/external at home.

What flashdrive size are you using that can store all of your data? I need to get me one of those. It automatically backs up your data as you work? Or do you manually have to do it?

[privatejarhead]

What flashdrive size are you using that can store all of your data? I need to get me one of those. It automatically backs up your data as you work? Or do you manually have to do it?

right now, im a high school student, so i only need to store my data for school (and ubuntu stuff like howto's). i use a sandisk cruzer 8gb flashdrive, but yet again my needs are small. i manually backup my data every so often on both my computers (ie copy and paste lol). for my music, i have a sansa view 8gb, which will take awhile for me to fill up (450 songs atm after owning it for a year and a half), so between those 16gb i have all the storage i need. maybe when i need more than that ill look at how to build my own home server

[HiImTye]

just about everything the cloud can do you can do from your own network/computer. if data backup is what you want, get a RAID 5 array. cheaper over time. if filesharing or music streaming over the internet is what you want set up a server. I don't see why anyone would think you need to look to external services to do what they could do on their own.