Cloud syncronization

Dream

Active member
I love how the tech world is converging on syncronizing all your stuff on the cloud. Cell contacts being the most useful one, followed by agenda, personal notes and to-do lists. My only gripe is with security, someone gets your password and you are screwed.

And btw, Google Sync > MobileMe
 
Don't take this the wrong way. :) I understand your meaning in the context of your post when you use the word "cloud," but I hate that term. It is better if you can use more specific language.

*gets on soapbox*
rant.gif


Cloud computing is such nonsense. It is essentially a gratuitous relabeling of old technology for the purpose of marketing. The core of cloud computing appears to be the idea of virtualized resources which is not new, and over time the cloud label has changed to encompass lots of other existing technologies.

Most disturbing for me is the way the term has come to be used to describe ignorance. It is as if any resource on the internet for which you don't have detailed technical information is in the cloud. The resource is probably just a white box server on a shelf somewhere but you don't know that so it's in the cloud.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html

“Cloud Computing”

The term “cloud computing” is a marketing buzzword with no clear meaning. It is used for a range of different activities whose only common characteristic is that they use the Internet for something beyond transmitting files. Thus, the term is a nexus of confusion. If you base your thinking on it, your thinking will be vague.

When thinking about or responding to a statement someone else has made using this term, the first step is to clarify the topic. Which kind of activity is the statement really about, and what is a good, clear term for that activity? Once the topic is clear, the discussion can head for a useful conclusion.

Curiously, Larry Ellison, a proprietary software developer, also noted the vacuity of the term “cloud computing.” He decided to use the term anyway because, as a proprietary software developer, he isn't motivated by the same ideals as we are.

Ok I'm done ranting. :D
 
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Many videos on this event at Mountain View on Google plans for Cloud Computing. It's long but it's a nice watch if you have interest on cloud.
 
But more to the point of your topic...

I agree that putting your entire life online can be risky. I think you need to strike a balance between convenience and security. And always make local backups of your online life whenever possible.

There is also the problem of control. Richard Stallman often talks about this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman

The concept of using web-based programs like Google's Gmail is "worse than stupidity", according to a leading advocate of free software.

Cloud computing – where IT power is delivered over the internet as you need it, rather than drawn from a desktop computer – has gained currency in recent years. Large internet and technology companies including Google, Microsoft and Amazon are pushing forward their plans to deliver information and software over the net.

But Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU, said that cloud computing was simply a trap aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time.

"It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign," he told The Guardian.

"Somebody is saying this is inevitable – and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true."

The 55-year-old New Yorker said that computer users should be keen to keep their information in their own hands, rather than hand it over to a third party.

...

The growing number of people storing information on internet-accessible servers rather than on their own machines, has become a core part of the rise of Web 2.0 applications. Millions of people now upload personal data such as emails, photographs and, increasingly, their work, to sites owned by companies such as Google.

Computer manufacturer Dell recently even tried to trademark the term "cloud computing", although its application was refused.

But there has been growing concern that mainstream adoption of cloud computing could present a mixture of privacy and ownership issues, with users potentially being locked out of their own files.

Stallman, who is a staunch privacy advocate, advised users to stay local and stick with their own computers.

"One reason you should not use web applications to do your computing is that you lose control," he said. "It's just as bad as using a proprietary program. Do your own computing on your own computer with your copy of a freedom-respecting program. If you use a proprietary program or somebody else's web server, you're defenceless. You're putty in the hands of whoever developed that software."

Stallman is pretty hardcore though. Surely there is a balance.
 
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