Amiga.org
The "Not Quite Amiga but still computer related category" => Alternative Operating Systems => Topic started by: persia on October 28, 2008, 06:02:57 PM
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Microsoft to take you into the cloud
by William Maher
Oct 28, 2008
Tags: Microsoft
Promises of "transformation" as Microsoft pumps its new Windows Azure "cloud-based" operating system.
Adobe's doing it, Google's doing it, and now Microsoft is shifting its cloud-computing campaign up a gear with today's announcement of Windows Azure.
The push from desktop to Web-based Apps that reside online shifted up a gear today with the announcement of Azure.
From what we can tell, Azure won't sit on your desktop - rather, it will host Web based apps, which can run purely online, or "enhance" existing desktop apps with Web capabilities (something software providers like Adobe have been pushing with their AIR technology).
Interestingly Microsoft is pushing the benefits at both PC and phones. The cloud trend is also being tied to the interesting in cheap notebooks designed with minimal processing power and storage, and to run apps online. Desktop "cloud PCs" have been around for a number of years - we covered one here recently.
More to come.
PC Authority (http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/126757,microsoft-to-take-you-into-the-cloud.aspx)
(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii52/lilhabhab/smiley.gif)(http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii52/lilhabhab/smiley.gif)
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George Orwell comes to mind here.... *your* apps running on publicly hosted systems now! lol
Gosh, can I run Quicken on someone else's system too? Guess it's not much different than filing your taxes online ;-)
And who cares about running stuff on a "minimally processed system". When has anyone cared about owning "the minimum", especially in a WinDoze world?
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no thanks. cloud computing. blimey, what is this 1996? soon you'll be talking about thin clients again, oops, i'm too slow, thats already gaining momentum with VMware/Sun/Microsoft/Intel... again... blade servers, hypervisors, hardware transparency and virtualization ... blah blah blah....
mobile 3G speeds are only just realiable enough to stream audio from my home machine to my phone/netbook/whatever.
streaming video while moving and cell hopping leaves a bit to be desired, it works, yes, but it works best if you are in one location.
plus, like farcebook, would you like someone else looking after your data? you may delete that dodgy photo from your account, but if its been there long enough for their backup/snapshot system to grab a backup of your account/data, its theirs for as long as they like.
and then, how about if their servers go down. sorry. you can't look at your photos, play your game, edit your spreadsheets, print your contracts, cos we can't be arsed to sort it out yet...
also, if i have to load call of duty 4 over broadband every time i want a game, i'll be having to organise games weeks in advance.
nope. what i want, and pretty much nearly have, is all my stuff stored at home, and access to it from where-ever i am. more heavyweight stuff that an internet connetion couldn't cope with in a few minutes, gets stuck on my laptop or USB key.
what i want is a fatter pipe to my house, where i have my stuff, that i look after, and no-one else can access.
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Good for their licensing department, bad for users. Sounds like any machines running this OS will be completely crippled in the event of a network connection failure - extremely inconvenient in a work environment or rural area, a disaster in the event of a real emergency.
I hope this online app craze passes soon.
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...I wished that about Nascar, rap & country music, Wal-Mart, cell phones, MySpace and the like eons ago :-(
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Sweet! I want a web based BSOD! that would be awesome.
"Your cloud has a fatal exception error" :lol:
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No thanks I will keep my private data to myself. There are to many organisations wanting to stick their noses into peoples lives. Government departments being one of them.
clint
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But cloud apps are just the beginning. When the OS is stored on the cloud you know big brother will be truly watching (and monitoring) your activities.
It is the perfect tool for marketing and advertising. The owners of the "cloud" will sell advertisers the rights to scan your public (private)data, searching for key words or browsing activity to enable them to target your machine with pop ups and spam.
I would imagine the Chinese government would love it - for us "westerners", it truly is a nail in the coffin for free speech and freedom of choice.
Soap box - I now stand down.
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Better get used to it, chumbos. with ever increasing bandwidth, cloud computing will become increasingly viable as time goes by. MS know this, that's exactly why they're preparing. Govenment/business can't wait to bait you and your personal data onto their servers.
no one will stop this trend, because no one ever does in these situations. what "they" want is what they will get and YOU will get used to it - over time - and eventually see absolutely nothing wrong with it.
it may take time, but Cloud computing is going to happen and nothing you do on your PC/Internet will be private. brace yourselves
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oh ho, speak of the devil. I have just recieved an email from PayPal who have been monitoring (snooping) on my PayPal account transactions:
"We are sending you this notice because you have received more than 650.00 GBP in total payments to your PayPal account.
PayPal is required by law to comply with European Union Anti-Money Laundering regulations to collect information from customers when they receive more than the set limit in total payments. Please log into your account, go to the Account Overview page, and follow the instructions there about how to provide the required information."
Apparently the average Joe (commoners, to our ruling Elite) is no longer allowed to sell their own property on eBay to make a little extra cash, without the government and tech-industry demanding we fill out a form explaining ourselves and justifying such "huge" sums (725.32 GBP in total) which they would rather we didn't have.
I wonder who's demanding an explaination from all the back-handers and corporate-bribery money many of our MPs launder through THEIR bank accounts?
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Well said. Big business sells our jobs overseas and our government who is supposed to represent the people acts nothing worse or short of hookers on street, selling out to whoever throws money at them. I agree with everything you said... By the way today's global financial crisis, is a petty excuse for big business (starting with banks) to get their hands on government money (sponsored by taxpayers) so they can continue their ways. This cloud stuff will put a nail on our rights, freedoms, job security and the world we knew in 20th century. :roll:
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Apparently the average Joe (commoners, to our ruling Elite) is no longer allowed to sell their own property on eBay to make a little extra cash, without the government and tech-industry demanding we fill out a form explaining ourselves and justify such huge sums which they would rather we didn't have.
What happens if you don't fill out the form? Better remove all your money before trying to find out, though. ;-)
In the USA, it's 10000 dollars where the banks are required to report about. And, as it turns out, if you ask what that trigger anmount is, they are required to fill out a "suspicion" form because you might be trying to skirt the law by shifting less than the trigger amount. A form, which they would also fill out, incidentally, if you put in only $9999 at a time. One other weird big brothery law is that every transaction you do would be reported if you tried to open an account without giving your social security number. (Illegal aliens not withstanding. :roll: )
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Rights? What are they???
In this day and age it's all about a couple of things:
Control
Money
Who is in control and who has the money? Not joe public thats for sure.
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F%$# Microsoft :madashell: They can kiss my hairy ass while Im using Amiga OS :crazy:
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no one will stop this trend, because no one ever does in these situations. what "they" want is what they will get and YOU will get used to it - over time - and eventually see absolutely nothing wrong with it.
...that's gotta be one of the best collection of words I've ever read on AO. Very insightful.
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maybe this is another reason to stick with "outdated" machines and architectures.
i'd like to see some civil servant have the nouse to hack into an amiga from the outside! :lol:
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darksun9210 wrote:
maybe this is another reason to stick with "outdated" machines and architectures.
i'd like to see some civil servant have the nouse to hack into an amiga from the outside! :lol:
"Security through obscurity"
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@Roj
That's pretty much how things work. That's exactly how everyone will eventually end up with a microchip or barcode.
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arkanoid wrote:
oh ho, speak of the devil. I have just recieved an email from PayPal who have been monitoring (snooping) on my PayPal account transactions:
"We are sending you this notice because you have received more than 650.00 GBP in total payments to your PayPal account.
..."
Apparently the average Joe (commoners, to our ruling Elite) is no longer allowed to sell their own property on eBay to make a little extra cash, without the government and tech-industry demanding we fill out a form explaining ourselves and justifying such "huge" sums (725.32 GBP in total) which they would rather we didn't have.
I think you have misunderstood the situation.
Firstly, there is no requirement to fill in any form or justify anything in this situation. They are simply informing you that they are checking the details of the transaction. What this actually involves is them making sure that the funds have gone to a verified account, and checking for any odd trends like regular payments of a similar amount going to lots of different accounts. This is done automatically with no human intervention unless something suspicious is flagged up. When this happened to me, I received an email with 24 hours stating that the checks were completed, with no requirement for me to do (or justify) anything.
Secondly, what on earth makes you think they "the government and tech-industry" would rather you didn't have the money you made from selling your property? Do you really think that's how the government and business owners want things to be, with the "average Joe" having no money? Where would the revenue which pays the wages of these organisations come from in this case? Do you know how capitalism works?
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moto
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Do you know how capitalism works?
The communists in China sure do. It's what's keeping communism alive.
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Motorolin: I don't think you have a clear picture of this particular situation. This requirement that PayPal snoops on the accounts of UK PayPal users is European Parliament Anti-Money Laundering _legislation_ introduced in recent years under the guise of “anti-terrorism”. Because of the UK’s ties with Brussels, this is also now UK law by proxy. This has nothing to do with PayPal “account verification” (my account was verified years ago). PayPal have asked me to answer around 15 questions, related to how I use my account. Whether the funds are business related, where the money is transferred to after it hits my account, etc.
This is corporate-aided Government intrusion into my personal finances.
motorollin wrote:
Secondly, what on earth makes you think they "the government and tech-industry" would rather you didn't have the money you made from selling your property? Do you really think that's how the government and business owners want things to be, with the "average Joe" having no money? Where would the revenue which pays the wages of these organisations come from in this case? Do you know how capitalism works?
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moto
Oh, I'm pretty sure I know how "capitalism works". The only thing is, I know how it actually works... not how i'm TOLD it works.
yes, I really know that Governments would prefer it if their populations did NOT own a great deal. This may be a shock to your rose-tinted notion of government but they would indeed prefer you to not have a bank full of money or own homes which you could potentially pass on to your children.
That’s not just MY opinion, btw. This technique of keeping the majority of a nation’s populace “on the bread-line” (or as close to it as you can get away with) is well documented and is in fact a key principle in the art which our governments are masters in: social engineering. You cannot control and keep a population working 9-5 in jobs which they basically hate, if you allow too many of them to become complacent. Wealth, ownership of land and homes is key in breeding complacency and a sense of independant security in a population. Think about it. So yes, governments would prefer you to own very little (ideally nothing) - particularly the neo-Fascist type governments most of us have or will have very soon.
The world around you is changing rapidly Motoroli and incase you haven’t noticed, the new buzzword is “control” (climate control, population control, etc)...not freedom, democracy or even “capitalism”. I wish I had the energy and will to unravel things for you and explain the effects of recent historical events and current trends (particularly in technological "people control"), but I don’t . Just because you are told that you live in a capitalist democracy, doesn’t necessarily mean that you do.
Like Weirdami said: “The communists in China sure do. It's what's keeping communism alive.”
Controlling vast populations is largely a game of smoke and mirrors, i guess. and unfortunately this world is full of naive simple people like yourself who will never see how they are being manipulated. Pitty.
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Many of us know and have known about these things. Question is, how to combat it?? I mean, REALLY combat it? Too many people trained and willing to be 'cattle' in these times. Too many people willing to sell out. Sell their families, friends and neighbours. What's worse - is that *THEY* do not see anything wrong with being such {bleep}s! They actually feel that the lives they live *IS* for the greater good for their families/business's. I do what I can by boycotting Wal-Marts, cell phones, blindly following trends, totally boycott most of what's on TV, reality shows, lawyer/doctor shows, purchasing anything from large corporations in general and caring about the mainstream and what is popular (and the list CAN go on) - but I KNOW I'm definitely in the minority here.
Until there are better solutions, knowledge without power is a total waste and makes us look like fanaticals, conspiracy loons or rebels.
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Interesting talk, but I disagree with most of you here. First of all I don't thing this will ever get that huge acceptance, because plenty stuff people today have on their machines is actually illegal mp3/movies/programs you name it, so they don't want to get caught. Secondly I don't think people would want to depend on a remote station completely, like someone has already said what if the server is down or they lose your data or there are data leaks ...
That said I think plenty people will use it, mostly for the convenience but the other option will be there, they'll probably use both and it's not like governments will force you to NOT have a powerfull computer at home:)
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@arkanoid
Ok, I did not have a full picture of what you were asked to do by PayPal and I made an assumption that it was the same as what I was required to do. That was wrong. Given that you were asked quite specific questions about the transaction, I can understand that you are concerned. However, I am struggling to think what motive you think Brussels has other than to protect people from fraud. Did they tell you you couldn't have your money, or did they carry out the checks then leave it in your account?
Regarding the capitalism stuff, your condescending lesson is not required. I am fully aware of how this model can be used to exert control over the masses. However, it's not the 1900s any more. Services aren't providing merely the necessities. You will of course be aware that whole industries focus on providing luxury goods and services that people don't actually need. If the bourgeoisie were really still trying to suppress the proles by withholding all of the capital, then I hardly think there would be a place in the market for such goods and services. Luxury foods, designer clothes, prestige cars and expensive furniture for a start would all be gone.
You should know that I am not as naïve as you think I am. My eyes are wide open to the way the world is changing and the potential dangers. But the way the market is organised suggests to me that we are *not* (yet) living in some Victorian era of ruling and working classes. And I don't think PayPal checking that you and others are not being defrauded is evidence that we are moving towards that. If anything, they seem to be *proteecting* your property (i.e. your money). When they start withholding funds, then I will worry.
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moto
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Jose wrote:
Interesting talk, but I disagree with most of you here. First of all I don't thing this will ever get that huge acceptance, because plenty stuff people today have on their machines is actually illegal mp3/movies/programs you name it, so they don't want to get caught. Secondly I don't think people would want to depend on a remote station completely, like someone has already said what if the server is down or they lose your data or there are data leaks ...
That said I think plenty people will use it, mostly for the convenience but the other option will be there, they'll probably use both and it's not like governments will force you to NOT have a powerfull computer at home:)
I agree. Piracy is what drives many people to buy computers in the first place: free music, free movies, free apps, free games. Email is less important to the gen y's as they text message on their mobiles. They are not mad hobbyists like we are, they might as well be buying a fridge. They have little regard for copyright on digital files or software: most treat it as a disposable commodity. I read that only 25% of installed software is legitimate. Are they gonna store their pirated files on an MS server?
People will use it just like they use gmail or yahoo mail as opposed to their isp email address: for doing stuff they don't really care much about.
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Question:
What's Microsoft going to do, when they realise that their wonderful could computing has been taken over by terabytes of pr0n, torrents, mp3s, Viagra adverts and 419 / phishing scams?
It's all on their computer, so they must be guilty.... :-D
:lol: