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Lost In the Cloud
Colonel Korn writes "Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain suggests in an Op-Ed piece that the seemingly inevitable move toward the often locked-down cloud is stifling innovation and threatening our privacy: '... many software developers who once would have been writing whatever they wanted for PCs are simply developing less adventurous, less subversive, less game-changing code under the watchful eyes of Facebook and Apple. If the market settles into a handful of gated cloud communities whose proprietors control the availability of new code, the time may come to ensure that their platforms do not discriminate. Such a demand could take many forms, from an outright regulatory requirement to a more subtle set of incentives — tax breaks or liability relief — that nudge companies to maintain the kind of openness that earlier allowed them a level playing field on which they could lure users from competing, mighty incumbents. We've only just begun to measure this problem, even as we fly directly into the cloud. That's not a reason to turn around. But we must make sure the cloud does not hinder the creation of revolutionary software that, like the Web itself, can seem esoteric at first but utterly necessary later.'"
Or, you know, developers could still write code that runs on one computer and do whatever they feel like doing.
Somehow, I don't think that Facebook is going to be the technology that drives computing forard...
Such a demand could take many forms, from an outright regulatory requirement to a more subtle set of incentives -- tax breaks or liability relief -- that nudge companies to maintain the kind of openness that earlier allowed them a level playing field on which they could lure users from competing, mighty incumbents
That is in a word, stupid. The thing about online services is, there is little requirements to entry and they are easy to change from one service to another. Its trivial for me to switch from Facebook to any number of different social networks. Same with search engines, etc. All it takes is simply replacing the URL. Regulation will only stifle innovation.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
the cloud is not taking over everything, not everyone is going to give up their computers for a network appliance that depends on the cloud to do anything and everything, the cloud will at best become useful for a few people but not everyone
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I'm actually surprised at how quickly some of these platforms like the iPhone have developed completely closed programming environments with barely a peep of protest from the normally pretty libertarian tech crowd. Even on /., there doesn't seem to be much of a stir about it. Every now and then someone complains, or advocates jailbreaking, but I hear more howling when MS proposes to make IE a default browser than when Apple completely locks down an entire product line to outside developers.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Let em' stifle all they want. Somebody else will make another cloud that doesn't stifle...or just build their own platform.
any software developers who once would have been writing whatever they wanted for PCs are simply developing less adventurous, less subversive, less game-changing code under the watchful eyes of Facebook and Apple.
You're suggesting Facebook and Apple actually care about your privacy? Are you from the past?
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Nothing says innovation like government regulation!
There will always be people, like me, that will not want to use cloud computing. I don't think we are surrendering our rights to the big corporations. This is needless worry and concern. You don't have to use Google Docs or Microsoft Office (when it goes cloud.) You can still choose to use Open Office or KOffice. If you care about privacy, you will avoid the cloud as much as possible. There will always be traditional developers writing software for the hard core users. Who knows, developers might create a cloud version of Open Office that you can deploy yourself.
Or, if you don't like reading, you can watch his thoroughly engaging book talk here: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/events/2008/04/zittrain
Zittrain knows his stuff. He was friends with Postel. He's got an AI background from Yale in addition to his Harvard Law degree.