That on its own sounds quite nice to me. However, one part of it is leaving me a little "apprehensive". I sort of get the feeling, that for truly good integration of all these services between devices, you'll basically be putting all your "eggs" (data, whatever) in one "basket" (one company's service).
I'll expand on that for clarity. It looks like right now a few different companies are trying to come up with their own individual cloud sort of services. Apple has its Mobile Me, Google has all its stuff, Nokia is trying to do the same with Ovi, Microsoft has its Live stuff... I'm sure there's more. In each of these cases, the big company is producing a "traditional" desktop/laptop experience, be it through OSX, Windows, Chrome OS, or Nokia's PC suite. Each company also has its mobile division, producing phones, or phone operating systems. So, I have to wonder, will it ever become particularly disadvantageous to pick and choose between these companies?
I mean, right now, I have an Apple computer, a Nokia phone, I use iCal and Address Book in OSX for all my contacts, which sync with my Nokia quite easily... and I use gmail on both of those devices. On top of that, I use iTunes on my Macbook, sync it with an iPod, but also with my Nokia phone. As it stands right now, I'm not being forced to use an iPhone with my Macbook. Nokia isn't forcing me to use an Ovi e-mail address, and put all my music into their Ovi music or whatever they call it in order to sync it to my phone. There's a general level of compatibility between these services. It could be a bit better, but overall, I'm not complaining.
But, what's to stop any of these companies from ceasing to support one of the other ones? Will the day come, when say Apple revamps Mobile Me, and decides to say "yeah, if you want to use this service, you need an iPhone". Or, suppose you'd rather use a Windows computer, but you'd like to use an iPhone, will you ever be forced to ditch Windows and go for a Mac? Will Google force you to own an Android phone, if you want to use Chrome OS and it's associated cloud services? Will Microsoft do the same with it's new Windows 7 Phone Series Phone 7 Windows?
I can't say I care for that notion. Right now, I feel like I'm using the best devices and services for my needs. I don't want an iPhone, Android, or Microsoft phone, I don't want to use a Windows computer, I don't want an Ovi/Apple/Live e-mail address.
So, what do you think? Do you think that our freedom to pick and choose devices and services as we see fit, like we do right now, will slowly disappear in the name of streamlining and improving cloud-based services? Doing so will have clear advantages, with regards to reliability, connectivity, and integration between devices. But, is it worth basically putting your digital life in one company's hands? Do you think there are any ways around this?
And, since it probably needs to be said: Shall we leave brand loyalty and silly fanboy bullsh*t out of this thread? The debate here isn't over which device/service you prefer. (I'm guessing this part turned a lot of people off...)
from what i understand, the cloud is an utterly retarded idea. so basically what they're saying is that it's better to put all your data in the hands of the company, be a slave to the service and be totally screwed over when the system requires maintenance of goes down, and you have to pay for everything as you use it. it's about as bad as money and banks, or choosing to pay for a utility company for water and electricity, when you already live next to a freshwater stream and can create all your electricity by yourself through a solar panel or something.
ReplyDeleteIt's the corporations, and I'm not kidding. It seems the more "connected" we become, the less freedom we have to pick and choose what peripherals we can use. South Park did a pretty funny commentary on the prevalence of facebook on today's episode, which, while hilarious, is a pretty grim commentary on the way things are headed.
ReplyDeleteI have resolved to "fight the system" and not buy into all the social networking and peripheral cock-waving. I think Sean is onto something with his philosophy. Although he should still get a cellphone...
The concept of the cloud isn't inherently evil. Any form of e-mail we use is a form of cloud computing. All our e-mail messages are stored on gmail's/hotmail's servers. And there are definitely advantages to that. I always have access to my e-mails wherever I am, even if I don't have my computer with me. And, it's made moving over to a new computer way easier. No need to back up all the e-mails on my computer and move them to the new one. Just download them all again from gmail.
ReplyDeleteTo that end, the cloud is handy in that you're way less tied down to one device. And as long as it's still possible to operate with local copies of whatever you want on your personal computer so you aren't screwed when you don't have internet access or the service is down, I see nothing wrong with it. Again, my main concern is losing my ability to choose as a consumer, as these companies try to integrate all their services.
Looking into it further, Google is pushing this whole concept to a pretty ridiculous point, way more than anyone else. Ultimately, what they seem to want to accomplish with their Chrome OS, is to have basically everything you do on a computer done over the internet, so basically all your files, and even applications are stored on, and run from their servers, without any real files on your computer. The operating system is effectively a glorified web browser.
In the future, it could work very well. It could drastically reduce the need for consumers to have high-end, expensive hardware. But right now, our internet is way too damn slow and unreliable for me to be comfortable with such a system. Only when wireless providers have reliable, fast, widespread wireless internet up through basically the entire planet, would it work. And, yet again: What's stopping these companies from being dicks, and forcing you to put all your eggs in their basket, completely limiting your choice as a consumer?