When will cloud computing be cheap enough for you?

[blithen]

The title says it all.
As for myself I'd start using a cloud service if I could get 500gb for about 200 a year. I really like Ubuntu One but right now it would cost too much for me to get 500gb of cloud storage. Which is pretty much my minimum amount.

[Primefalcon]

Dude! http://owncloud.org (free open source software) and install it on godaddy and for $5.94 per month you can get 150gb unlimited if you pay $8.49 a month!

I think thats beats 200 per year...... or run it on your own home server for free

[zombifier25]

I would use cloud computing.. if the government promises to NOT view my files without my permission :P

[KiwiNZ]

I use Cloud computing now

[forrestcupp]

If you're talking about cloud storage, then when it's free. I'm satisfied with Dropbox's 2.5GB to put my important files on. When I can get more for free, I might think about it.

But for total cloud computing, it's not about the price; it's about the speed. When I get a 1 gigabit internet connection for the same price I'm paying now, then I might be ok with total cloud computing.

[Grenage]

Cloud computing not so much, although tools such as google documents are very handy. I have no need for cloud storage beyond my website, and I can't see that changing.

[samalex]

When my upload speeds at home are faster than 384Kbps I might look at it, but for now it takes WAY too long to upload content to a cloud drive to be of much use to me.

[SemiExpert]

Cloud computing? How utterly boring? Just how many consumers are in the market for thin clients? Not many. Just how many businesses are embracing Chromebooks? Not many. The cloud computing concept makes a lot of sense in a world of cheap bandwidth but expensive storage, but in reality, bandwidth costs are actually increasing. Example: AT&T's bandwidth caps, bandwidth throttling and surcharges.

[Grenage]

Cloud computing? How utterly boring? Just how many consumers are in the market for thin clients? Not many. Just how many businesses are embracing Chromebooks? Not many. The cloud computing concept makes a lot of sense in a world of cheap bandwidth but expensive storage, but in reality, bandwidth costs are actually increasing. Example: AT&T's bandwidth caps, bandwidth throttling and surcharges.

You're looking at it in a way most users don't; people generally use cloud storage for off-site redundancy, and data availability. It's not about saving money.

[collisionystm]

every day I login to gmail i am technically cloud computing.

[BrokenKingpin]

Dude! http://owncloud.org (free open source software) and install it on godaddy and for $5.94 per month you can get 150gb unlimited if you pay $8.49 a month!

This is a pretty good solution if you really require cloud storage like this.

For me, storing all my data up in a cloud (**** I really hate this term) is just too slow. I personally just have a home sever that I store all my stuff on, with proper back, syncing and data protection.

[SemiExpert]

You're looking at it in a way most users don't; people generally use cloud storage for off-site redundancy, and data availability. It's not about saving money.

It's always about saving money. Does the user spend an extra $200 for an iPad with 64GB of storage, or does the user spend $30/month over the course of 2 years? I think that it's quite obvious that even with Apple's huge mark-ups, charging $200 for an upgrade that probably costs them less than $50, that local storage is cheaper than bandwidth. Bandwidth profiteering, where $0.10 of bandwidth is sold for $10.00, is going to limit the future of cloud computing.

[Primefalcon]

This is a pretty good solution if you really require cloud storage like this.

For me, storing all my data up in a cloud (**** I really hate this term) is just too slow. I personally just have a home sever that I store all my stuff on, with proper back, syncing and data protection.
That works like dropbox so it stores it on your computer and online... more like backing up, but it syncs it to all the computes you have the owncloud client software installed on

[Grenage]

It's always about saving money. Does the user spend an extra $200 for an iPad with 64GB of storage, or does the user spend $30/month over the course of 2 years? I think that it's quite obvious that even with Apple's huge mark-ups, charging $200 for an upgrade that probably costs them less than $50, that local storage is cheaper than bandwidth. Bandwidth profiteering, where $0.10 of bandwidth is sold for $10.00, is going to limit the future of cloud computing.

As I said, cloud storage is rarely about the money, especially in the normal consumer market. Ask any of the people here paying for storage, its not to save a couple of quid, they will be paying more for the convenience and security.

[SemiExpert]

As I said, cloud storage is rarely about the money, especially in the normal consumer market. Ask any of the people here paying for storage, its not to save a couple of quid, they will be paying more for the convenience and security.

Cloud storage is arguably less safe and convenient that local physical storage. I think that Ubuntu One, Google Drive, DropBox and iCloud are wonderful services, but the future of Cloud Computing itself will be defined by companies like AT&T with their bandwidth caps and surcharges.

[Copper Bezel]

Pure cloud computing is things like Onlive or Amazon's cloud service, where you rent out server space to run applications remotely. It could be a file server or a full desktop, but all the processing happens at the server. Very few people have a legitimate use case for this.

Storage is a different thing. Cloud storage doesn't make any sense to me for large amounts of data, but then, I don't actually deal with a lot of data to begin with. Everything I really need fits on a 32 gig SSD. About three gigs of that is backed up through Dropbox and available anywhere, but it's only seamless on my hardware, where I can actually have the client installed.

Cloud storage for media makes sense for keeping things available everywhere - and Amazon and Ubuntu provide this as well - but it depends on ubiquitous broadband. The goal of cloud storage for media is being able to pull up videos and music from your computer on your phone or tablet wherever you have to be. That's not quite practical yet.

My life depends on cloud backup and syncing, and I depend on a lot of web applications, but the processing and storage that happens outside my PC is still a tiny fraction of the total. And the storage is largely redundant, which is the point (although e-mail is an exception, since it's stored entirely at the server; I'd prefer to cache it locally, but Thunderbird is less useful than the Gmail web client and won't interface with the current version of MS Exchange.)

[KiwiNZ]

The convenience Cloud computing gives me is worth the cost.

[Primefalcon]

Cloud storage is arguably less safe and convenient that local physical storage. I think that Ubuntu One, Google Drive, DropBox and iCloud are wonderful services, but the future of Cloud Computing itself will be defined by companies like AT&T with their bandwidth caps and surcharges.
Unfortunately I think your probally right, AT&T and other ISP's are definately negative in the cloud dimension!

[blithen]

I guess I meant cloud storage, I don't ever plan on actual cloud computing. I mean in the convinence factor google lets you upload 20k of your personal music library and you can access it anywhere as long as you use their program. Which I LOVE and use on my tablet constantly. Cloud storage I would just use almost as an external harddrive. My apologies for the mix up, I like the discussion that's going on.


The convenience Cloud computing gives me is worth the cost.

Are you using cloud computing or storage? xD I'm all confused now.


If you're talking about cloud storage, then when it's free. I'm satisfied with Dropbox's 2.5GB to put my important files on. When I can get more for free, I might think about it.

But for total cloud computing, it's not about the price; it's about the speed. When I get a 1 gigabit internet connection for the same price I'm paying now, then I might be ok with total cloud computing.


As for this, I don't really mind paying yearly as long as I'm getting quite of bit of storage per dollar, I mean I am using their hardware I think I should pay SOMETHING for that. Especially if they're doing 2-3 backups of my files I like knowing I'm not going to lose that stuff, as for my home a harddrive could go out. BUT of course I could have multiple back ups as well. It's just more convient to have someone else deal with it all. :P

[KiwiNZ]

I guess I meant cloud storage, I don't ever plan on actual cloud computing. I mean in the convinence factor google lets you upload 20k of your personal music library and you can access it anywhere as long as you use their program. Which I LOVE and use on my tablet constantly. Cloud storage I would just use almost as an external harddrive. My apologies for the mix up, I like the discussion that's going on.



Are you using cloud computing or storage? xD I'm all confused now.




As for this, I don't really mind paying yearly as long as I'm getting quite of bit of storage per dollar, I mean I am using their hardware I think I should pay SOMETHING for that. Especially if they're doing 2-3 backups of my files I like knowing I'm not going to lose that stuff, as for my home a harddrive could go out. BUT of course I could have multiple back ups as well. It's just more convient to have someone else deal with it all. :P

I have two Clouds, the Apple iCloud which is great for the Apple environment but have another which I use for storage, collaboration, and other services.

The later costs $130 per month and is worth it.

[vasa1]

I've started using Google Docs a bit. Even with a slow connection it isn't bad at all!

[mamamia88]

cloud computing is practically free right now no need to pay.