The Cloud again -- Beware of the Hidden (and not so hidden) Costs

zEric7x said:

But what if you cant get online? What then? I rather install things on my own computer.

Hi there

In addition to all the other points made in this thread the one that seems to be overlooked a lot is the fact that SOME places have totally secure (or as secure as it's reasonably possible to make it) LANS that have DELIBERATELY No external Internet access -- for example some Militiary establishments and some secure Govt (? If it's possible to actually HAVE a secure Govt LAN) departments -- although I do have it on some sort of authority that the USAF prefers the accuracy in GOOGLE MAPS / GOOGLE EARTH rather than in its own data.

The CLOUD will not be of much use for these types of organisations. There are a load more of these than you think.

The Cloud also has horrendous implications for USERS if you want to say change providers or are working in a Country where you can't get reasonable access to your own server.

I don't think people have problems with SOME stuff being cloud based such as Transactional stuff --but what about sensitive data -- apart from hackers this will really be a FEAST for Corporate spies and the like --if you can see what your competitor is doing or how much he is charging you have a huge advantage.

This stuff DOES happen -- in some places where massive amounts of IT has been outsourced because of low wages sensitive data is often available for quite a cheap price. Just recently a BBC Reporter did an undercover test and found that for quite a lowish fee -- it was under 100 USD if I remember he could get the Pin codes and card numbers for about 1,000 VISA accounts.



If that doesn't bother you maybe THIS should

Valid Credit Card Numbers « Credit Card Processing Blog


and this is in what is supposed to be a SECURE environment.

Cheers
jimbo

zEric7x said:

But what if you cant get online? What then? I rather install things on my own computer.

I guess there will be tons of redundancy - But instead this time you have to pay for external technical support (on top of all the other fees for having your data in the Cloud) in addition to your own IT dept.

I'm sure most intelligent computer users back up their data, but rather for things you may have control over - it would be to cover your ass from the "Cloud"

Not sure if we will have much choice when the final move is made. They are already getting folks addicted to the cloud. Look at facebook, twitter, emails, etc.. Those addicted will pay, and they know it. Until all the pieces are in place, like broadband to 90% of folks, the massive server farms being built like apple, microsoft, google and others, we will still have some freedom. The government watches everything on the net like some paranoid skitso now. With 100% cloud base computing, no information will be private. Hate to see what it will be like in 10 years. Not sure if Linux will survive. Got to admit, it will create jobs and businesses. Like a post earlier, ready to buy data insurance?