bloodline wrote:
Hans_ wrote:
I'm not a big fan of cloud computing. Right now, some of these schemes lock you in to their services but using proprietary formats. As a result, you may not be able to extract your own data from the service-provider and use it elsewhere.
Only if you were fool enough to not maintain backups... I can't speak for other services but the Apple system is a way of keeping all my devices synchronised... My actual data is store on my MBP... the cloud simply maintains a copy of it that I can access and modify (which will then sync across all my devices) anywhere...
The backup is of no use if you can't use it in other systems. Google got into a bit of an argument over this exact point at a cloud-computing gathering because their apps do lock you in to their system. Cloud-computing is much more than a distributed storage system.
The other concern that I have is, how reliable will my computing be when, not only does my machine have to work, but every server that I use, and every network switch, fibre-optical link, satellite, etc., that lies between my machine and these servers. A broken computer I can replace; a broken satellite is beyond my control.
Don't be such a control freak! :-P Your devices still work just as they did before they were massively connected... it just that then you would have to manually keep track of your modifications and updates.
If you are relying on other servers for computing, then those servers have to be functioning, and the connections to those servers as well. Your devices may still work as before, but disconnected, you won't be able to do much with them.
Having dealt with internet outages, the prospect of not being able to do my work, because I can't connect to the application server, does not appeal.
Let's say you are running a business and some nutter decides to start a DDOS attack on your management system service provider. You, and every other company relying on that service will be back to using pen and paper until the service is restored. Any data that you did not have paper backups (or PDF files of) won't be accessible, and any changes will have to be manually sync'ed once the service provider is back up and running.
Then there's the question of what if the service provider doesn't like my content (or me)...
Wow!!! don't you normally need to take medication for that degree of paranoia? ;-)
Grow up. I'm sorry, but suggesting that I need medication is uncalled for, and insulting. I've had to deal with petty behaviour from "professionals" who don't like people that I work with. The effects are nasty. Given the amount of censorship in other parts of the world, this is something worth at least considering, even if it's not going to be an issue for most people.
All that complexity; whatever happened to Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS).
Take your pick... use technology as you will, but if you don't want to take advantage of what it offers... then feel free to fire up that C64 and pretend the last 30 years never happened :-D
What advantage does running a word-processor on a distributed system have exactly? My comment wasn't about not taking advantage of new technologies, rather, it was about making things more complex than they need to be.
None of the examples that I have given would be that hard to overcome technically, but service providers will be reluctant to add the ability to transfer data to rival company's systems, or allow local servers*.
So, please tell me, what advantage does cloud computing offer over installing software locally?
Hans
* One of the advantages for cloud computing service providers is that the users don't have access to the object-code, thus making pirating/reverse-engineering harder.
