[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Stop the Cloud, I Want to Get Off! here

[Soundjudgment]

This is very much the reason why I feel we *do* need to sometimes use terms, such as The Cloud. It helps people see where that data-storage resides. If I say to the average Joe User, "Your email is on the Internet," they scratch their heads wondering why they can't get to their email on the desktop. Telling them it is 'stored in the Cloud' helps them externalize the concept and they magically see that it is that Internet structure which holds all their email information. The Cloud is their 'holding pen' and their broadband or mobile connection is what they use to 'reach' that Cloud. It is as if a light-bulb suddenly appears over their head: "Ohhh! MY email is up THERE!" Yes, Joe, it is.

[SDW48]

Soundjudgment, on 01 May 2011 - 03:46 AM, said:

This is very much the reason why I feel we *do* need to sometimes use terms, such as The Cloud. It helps people see where that data-storage resides. If I say to the average Joe User, "Your email is on the Internet," they scratch their heads wondering why they can't get to their email on the desktop. Telling them it is 'stored in the Cloud' helps them externalize the concept and they magically see that it is that Internet structure which holds all their email information. The Cloud is their 'holding pen' and their broadband or mobile connection is what they use to 'reach' that Cloud. It is as if a light-bulb suddenly appears over their head: "Ohhh! MY email is up THERE!" Yes, Joe, it is.

[xvMATTLEEvx]

15 years ago we didn't even have Windows XP, A gigabyte of RAM or a Terabyte of hard drive was near impossible to have.

Maybe some people wanna live in the past, but I prefer to move forward and see all the latest technology advancements.

Hell we might as well go back to MS DOS and the Atari 2600. I guess even if this is PC World some writers aren't big on technological advancements.

[mmartin]

xvMATTLEEvx, on 01 May 2011 - 05:18 AM, said:

15 years ago we didn't even have Windows XP, A gigabyte of RAM or a Terabyte of hard drive was near impossible to have.

Maybe some people wanna live in the past, but I prefer to move forward and see all the latest technology advancements.

Hell we might as well go back to MS DOS and the Atari 2600. I guess even if this is PC World some writers aren't big on technological advancements.

I think point is that re-branding something you already have (e.g. the internet as the 'cloud') does not qualify as a technological advancement.

[banoza]

ok,i see the "clooud" is word for internet-but when we'r talking to lower I.Q. people-as simple...

[preilly2]

Soundjudgment, on 01 May 2011 - 03:46 AM, said:

If I say to the average Joe User, "Your email is on the Internet," they scratch their heads wondering why they can't get to their email on the desktop. Telling them it is 'stored in the Cloud' helps them externalize the concept and they magically see that it is that Internet structure which holds all their email information. The Cloud is their 'holding pen' and their broadband or mobile connection is what they use to 'reach' that Cloud. It is as if a light-bulb suddenly appears over their head: "Ohhh! MY email is up THERE!" Yes, Joe, it is.

Are that many people really that clueless, that they don't know that "the Internet" isn't physically located on their local hard disk? Maybe so, but it baffles me. I pretty much agree with the author: renaming a bunch of Internet servers and apps 'the Cloud' seems both unnecessary and annoying. It's redundant. 'The Cloud' is no better a shorthand term than 'the Internet'. Worse, in fact, because it's fuzzier.

[zeth006]

I know some are going to bash the author on other points, but the #1 reason I'm a bit hesitant to support the cloud is the horrid bandwidth cap. Storing stuff on the Cloud and using it to upload/download stuff just eats into your monthly quota.

On a side note, who would've thought AT&T one one day leverage it to discourage people from using Netflix just so it could force them to go for their own video service?

This post has been edited by zeth006: 01 May 2011 - 11:25 AM

[zeth006]

xvMATTLEEvx, on 01 May 2011 - 05:18 AM, said:

15 years ago we didn't even have Windows XP, A gigabyte of RAM or a Terabyte of hard drive was near impossible to have.

Maybe some people wanna live in the past, but I prefer to move forward and see all the latest technology advancements.

Hell we might as well go back to MS DOS and the Atari 2600. I guess even if this is PC World some writers aren't big on technological advancements.

No one wants to return to the days of MS DOS and Atari, but the author brings up legitimate concerns which you fail to address let alone debunk.

[CPTHADDOCK]

zeth006, on 01 May 2011 - 11:23 AM, said:

xvMATTLEEvx, on 01 May 2011 - 05:18 AM, said:

15 years ago we didn't even have Windows XP, A gigabyte of RAM or a Terabyte of hard drive was near impossible to have.

Maybe some people wanna live in the past, but I prefer to move forward and see all the latest technology advancements.

Hell we might as well go back to MS DOS and the Atari 2600. I guess even if this is PC World some writers aren't big on technological advancements.

No one wants to return to the days of MS DOS and Atari, but the author brings up legitimate concerns which you fail to address let alone debunk.

It's not necessary to have new words, the concept of the cloud is only for money reasons. It's necessary to sell space on the web, to sell new connections, ADSL or fiber.
I don't need this. I don't want to have my photos pictures text, projects on the web.
My life is mine and I want only to communicate when I want. It makes 30 years I'm on the web, it was not the web, only Internet. And I don't want to show my life.
a backup is enough, and for 70€ I can backup on an USB hard disk once a month. For me the sky is blue no cloud.

[zeth006]

CPTHADDOCK, on 01 May 2011 - 01:50 PM, said:

zeth006, on 01 May 2011 - 11:23 AM, said:

xvMATTLEEvx, on 01 May 2011 - 05:18 AM, said:

15 years ago we didn't even have Windows XP, A gigabyte of RAM or a Terabyte of hard drive was near impossible to have.

Maybe some people wanna live in the past, but I prefer to move forward and see all the latest technology advancements.

Hell we might as well go back to MS DOS and the Atari 2600. I guess even if this is PC World some writers aren't big on technological advancements.

No one wants to return to the days of MS DOS and Atari, but the author brings up legitimate concerns which you fail to address let alone debunk.

It's not necessary to have new words, the concept of the cloud is only for money reasons. It's necessary to sell space on the web, to sell new connections, ADSL or fiber.
I don't need this. I don't want to have my photos pictures text, projects on the web.
My life is mine and I want only to communicate when I want. It makes 30 years I'm on the web, it was not the web, only Internet. And I don't want to show my life.
a backup is enough, and for 70€ I can backup on an USB hard disk once a month. For me the sky is blue no cloud.

Yes. The author touched upon the point about privacy. Sony's blunder one example of why a lot of us are iffy over the trend toward cloud services. I enjoy using Dropbox, but what concerns me is that Dropbox authorizes law enforcement officers to view your files. I've come across people who've asked me "What's wrong with that?" My answer always is 1. If you've ever run into crooked cops and heard stories about the ones who plant evidence, you'll know why and 2. One step in the direction of giving up our treasured civil liberties such as privacy and freedom from fear is one more step in the direction of giving up more and more.


P.S. I don't have a criminal record, so no, I have very little hide except a parking ticket citation from 2 years ago. Stupid fire hydrant was too tiny for me to notice from my midsize. I doubt you can dispute parking tickets and $40 was too little to make a huge stink about anyway.

[Dropmeoff]

Screw the cloud. Local control, baby.
I use Tonido.com, my own personal cloud running off external hard drives that I control.
Tonido has cool "personal coud" apps like file access, calendar, blog, Task List, streaming video, photo slideshows, and Facebook link sharing. TAKE BACK THE CLOUD: make your own personal cloud with something like Tonido.com or Opera Unite.

[Dropmeoff]

The Cloud = The Internet (with a stupid marketing gimmick)
Coming next = RAIN COMPUTING?

[AgentF]

The "Cloud" is just a buzzword and will eventually go away. The best we can do is avoid using it. Data storage on someone else's drive isn't a new concept either, but web hosts are cracking down on it much more. It's easy to predict data storage use will skyrocket, but I'm more comfortable storing multiple copies locally at this point.

preilly2, on 01 May 2011 - 11:09 AM, said:

Are that many people really that clueless, that they don't know that "the Internet" isn't physically located on their local hard disk?

Jen of the I.T. Department thinks that way:

[Yargs]

If Xerox hadn't come up with the term "Ethernet" decades ago, we could be talking about The Ether instead of The Cloud today. I could support that. It brings together the (Greek) mythological upper sky, the fifth element of alchemy, the luminiferous medium of light propagation, and--of course--the image of a patient etherized on a table.

But instead we'll probably see The Cloud eventually supplanted by something patentable, like The oZone™.

[Yargs]

Argh. "oZone™" is supposed to read as oZone followed by a superscript TM.

[BigBanks]

THANK YOU! I hate "cloud". People say it like it is something new... People overuse it and think it is changing the world... People are so misguided by the marketing the companies are doing to push business' to their services. I am just tired of the world used in tech world... PLEASE RETIRE THE WORD CLOUD!

[preilly2]

AgentF, on 01 May 2011 - 07:46 PM, said:

The "Cloud" is just a buzzword and will eventually go away. The best we can do is avoid using it. Data storage on someone else's drive isn't a new concept either, but web hosts are cracking down on it much more. It's easy to predict data storage use will skyrocket, but I'm more comfortable storing multiple copies locally at this point.

preilly2, on 01 May 2011 - 11:09 AM, said:

Are that many people really that clueless, that they don't know that "the Internet" isn't physically located on their local hard disk?

Jen of the I.T. Department thinks that way:

Thanks for the vid, mate-absolutely hilarious. And isn't that the young lady from 'Doc Martin'?

[DanteOterokeqr]

Mmm...it seems like there's a false assumption in your post. Cloud computing is not a synomym for 'data is stored on a central server'. It means that the computational resources from a computer network are delivered through Internet. Under this definition, the cloud is not a new way of saying Internet, nor Hotmail is a 'cloud email solution'. Make sure you are not a victim of vendor's marketing calling everything a 'cloud' solution.

[vandershraaf]

DanteOterokeqr, on 11 May 2011 - 07:36 PM, said:

Mmm...it seems like there's a false assumption in your post. Cloud computing is not a synomym for 'data is stored on a central server'. It means that the computational resources from a computer network are delivered through Internet. Under this definition, the cloud is not a new way of saying Internet, nor Hotmail is a 'cloud email solution'. Make sure you are not a victim of vendor's marketing calling everything a 'cloud' solution.

That's exactly what this article is trying to say.