Cloud computing serves a purpose. It is useful. It is easy. It makes my life easier. It makes global business easier. A collaborative web experience is a better one. One person can not be the expert on all things web; more so, five people combined are not experts. Why not let hundreds of thousands combine their knowledge to make better products, better experiences. In the Guardian, Richard Stallman says, “computer users should be keen to keep their information in their own hands, rather than hand it over to a third party.” Richard, yes, some information would be best kept private. However, the majority of the information on the internet and on users computers isn’t vital and just as easily be kept in the cloud. Many businesses purchase server space, instead of having their own farms. Is having a cloud much different from this, except that clouds are easier to access? Both server farms and clouds have user agreements. They won’t share your information; you continue paying for a service.
Chudnov makes a great point, “Cloud computing is definitely a thing now, but it’s not new and not novel”. So why now are people making such a fuss over a service that has been available since the dawn of email servers like, Hotmail and Yahoo? Sure the space was limited in your inbox, but that was only until space became cheaper and their advertisers grew. Security of information is a big concern, for everyone. It could be understandable if the major problem the industry is having, was about security. But they are calling it a fad. A flash in the pan… since 1990.
Let’s continue to work together, to collaborate on ideas, for the hopes of having a better working internet experience. Let’s continue building off of each other’s ideas and making progress to systems that are easier to understand and better to use.
Johnson, Bobbie. “Cloud Computing is a Trap, Warns GNU Founder.” Guardian, September 28, 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman
Open Cloud Manifesto. http://www.opencloudmanifesto.org
Chudnov, Dan. “A View From the Clouds.” Computers in Libraries 30, no. 3 (2010): 33-35.
