Doctorow On What Cloud Computing Is Really For

Diabolus Advocatus alerts us to an article Cory Doctorow has up on guardian.co.uk, addressing what cloud computing really means for the average consumer: "The tech press is full of people who want to tell you how completely awesome life is going to be when everything moves to 'the cloud' — that is, when all your important storage, processing and other needs are handled by vast, professionally managed data-centers. Here's something you won't see mentioned, though: the main attraction of the cloud to investors and entrepreneurs is the idea of making money from you, on a recurring, perpetual basis, for something you currently get for a flat rate or for free without having to give up the money or privacy that cloud companies hope to leverage into fortunes."

Comments

Cloud Computing is NOT for desktops

[euxneks]

Whoever thinks that cloud computing is for desktops is an idiot. The best thing it's for is research and large or multiple small scale commercial computations. With cloud computing as a desktop you would have to rely on at least three factors: connection, client, and server. With a desktop you only need to rely on one thing: the client - the connection and server is not as important if you can still do your work on the client. I don't know about the rest of you, but my connection is _less_ reliable than my computer and I wouldn't trust my data on someone else's server.

Re:Cloud relies

[Man On Pink Corner]

But now you're online everywhere, all the time, or close to it. I feel powerless using a computer without an Internet gateway. Don't you? It only makes sense for applications to evolve to take advantage of that fact.

Comparing the ubiquity of the Internet to having to trudge across campus to use a VT100 terminal, uphill both ways, in the snow, is absurd.