R.I.P. Microsoft Office.

[manhunter2826]

Just in case people missed, a previous poster (I think it was JMH?) mentioned this interesting link a few days back.
Dark clouds gather over online security

 

[manhunter2826]

I don't think that remote ONLINE data storage will become the norm either -- you've only got to look at the recent incidents in even supposedly advanced Western countries where sensitive data has been left on public Train Carriages or in Taxi cabs (DEFENCE stuff BTW in the UK) to realize that the only sensible way to secure your data is to have it yourself.

Barnet council in hair-raising USB stick security breach

 

[jimbo45]

I don't think that remote ONLINE data storage will become the norm either -- you've only got to look at the recent incidents in even supposedly advanced Western countries where sensitive data has been left on public Train Carriages or in Taxi cabs (DEFENCE stuff BTW in the UK) to realize that the only sensible way to secure your data is to have it yourself.

Barnet council in hair-raising USB stick security breach

.....
“The advice we have received from the police indicates that this was an opportunistic burglary looking for high-value items rather than specifically to steal data. This assessment of the risk has involved taking advice from the police and staff trained in safeguarding children from within the council.”
“Our safeguarding team felt there may be risks associated with the potential identification of one child. This issue has been dealt with.”...................


This is just the stuff I was referring to -- and "The Safeguarding Team" -- who is it -- probably also outsourced to India or elsewhere.

My experience with Local authorities (World wide and not just in the UK - they aren't the worst by any manner of means) is that they probably couldn't organise a booze up in a Brewery or a Prayer Meeting in the Vatican.

I think if I were a farmer I'd rather let a FOX guard my chickens rather than Barnet Council's "safe guarding team" look after my data.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[garysgold]

I agree with those who doubt the cloud. Sorry, it just isn't going to happen for me. I know they (who ever they are) will tell you the cloud is safe. My answer to that is B.S. The cloud is still a computer system, hence, once it becomes popular enough the bad people will be looking at a way to bring it down, and again, sorry, albeit I have no doubt they will accomplish just that.

Ditto.

+3

 

[wpurcell]

I agree also. "Cloud-be-Gone"! I shall not indulge.

 

[Lee]

Really now, I just don't need the cloud; my head has been in one for along time. . .

 

[Thorsen]

Having been with companies that manage all their systems internally. i would say a corperate cloud system that has no connection to the outside world would be a good idea but there are risks. So i will do the old Pros/Cons thing now

Pros:
Updating Software - With everyone accessing Word (for example) online instead of on the individual PC, updates, upgrades and version control for the software become easier to implement and maintain.

Compatibility - Compatibility Testing would be only for the interface that all programs on the Cloud run through instead of each individual program on the PC's.

Security - Laptops - If evrything is stored online, data is less able to be compromised from stolen or lost laptops. Users would not be able to save on their own computers so data would only be available by gaining access to the network itself.

Troubleshooting - If someone has an issue on why their software is not working, the helpdesk would not need to go to the Users PC, instead he/she would check the software stored on the cloud for replication of issue.

Installation and Licensing - Corperations sometimes get into trouble when people dont put the right licensing on each installation. mistakes like this cost a lot of money. installing on a server and then regulating who has access is easier than verifying each PC that has the software is licensed properly.

Transition to Cloud - right now most huge corperations already have a secure internal network, so moving towards this is less of a step.





Cons:
Working offline - if you loose connection to the network, you cant do any work. you would need a constant VPN connect whenever working away from the office. No more editing documents mid-flight.

Security - Network - RSA just got hacked to bits (pun intended) and hackers are constantly pushing the security sector. Data all stored together could be compromised if one access point is discovered and exploited. (dont put all your eggs in one basket)

Issues affect all users - while troubleshooting an issue would be easier, when an issue arises, all users are affected. So, for example, instead of one user not being able to access software on thier PC, no user would be able to access the software on the Cloud.

 

[Max Peck]

You can have my copy of Office2003 when you can pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

-Max

 

[TheSchaft]

....

Cons:
Working offline - if you loose connection to the network, you cant do any work. you would need a constant VPN connect whenever working away from the office. No more editing documents mid-flight....

Add to that "If the server goes down, you can't do any work."

A part of the "cloud" going down is as bad, if not worse, than losing the network connection, and it will happen - it has everytime someone has tried "thin client" networking.

Cut off access to the mail server by the front office and you had better have a good place to hide. Same for the web server.

Thanks, but no thanks.

 

[Tinkerdog]

I am not sure businesses will want their data available on line, either.

A company would be insane to put their data online, then process from there in realtime.

Let's see...

A) Security? Who's eyes are prying on my data? Government? Other Governments?? - How secure from enemy attack?

B) Availablity - Server's do crash - Data does get lost....

C) Trustworthiness - Data does get corrupt - do they have always reliable backups?

D) Speed of Access - How fast does their "cloud" respond? How fast does the data get back for processing?

 

[fseal]

Another emphatic vote NO for the cloud.

The one insanely great feature of it: Being able to use your personal software and files from any computer at any time. This is like the dream from which the cloud utopia spings.

The insanely bad feature of it: As everyone else but the cloud pushers have noticed. Requiring a constant, highspeed internet connection to do ANYTHING is just not going to fly. It /may/ work in an internal private cloud network, but not for roaming or home users.

I'll have to say, the day that MS Office goes cloud-only is the day Open Office will take over the world.

 

[Ruudfood]

Just a few questions from me:
- anyone here do internet banking? Or even online shopping? Are you worried about security?
- when was the last time you couldn't get an internet connection and how long did that last?
- when was the last time your preferred mail server went down?

So what's the big deal? Security? Connectivity? Reliability? I'm sure they're all covered.

I don't expect many consumers will be using the cloud but for businesses it would make perfect sense.

 

[seekermeister]

Just a few questions from me:
- anyone here do internet banking? Or even online shopping? Are you worried about security?

Do both regularly, and never worried about either much. Opera has the best security available, from encryption to private tabs.

- when was the last time you couldn't get an internet connection and how long did that last?

It would seem to me, that if a person wasn't able to get online, they wouldn't be able to access the Cloud either.

- when was the last time your preferred mail server went down?

In the 3 years that I have been using it, I think that it went down once, and that was only for a couple of hours. If I had anything that was especially urgent, I have another account that I could use.

I simply do not see the need or practicality for the Cloud.

 

[osholt]

Just a few questions from me:
- anyone here do internet banking? Or even online shopping? Are you worried about security?
- when was the last time you couldn't get an internet connection and how long did that last?
- when was the last time your preferred mail server went down?

So what's the big deal? Security? Connectivity? Reliability? I'm sure they're all covered.

I don't expect many consumers will be using the cloud but for businesses it would make perfect sense.

Answering your questions in order

Yes I do do online banking and I actually run an online shop; I'm paranoid about security and change my online banking password on a very regular basis, I considered using a Visa/MasterCard based solution for selling stuff on my online store but decided that having PayPal as a middle man would be safer for me and the customers.

The last time I couldn't get an internet connection at home was last year and it lasted 4 days!!

The last time my preferred mail server went down was December last year because of that I moved my email hosting to Google Apps.

I run a business and if you're used to end of month invoicing you'll know what I mean when, IT JUST WOULDN'T BE FAST ENOUGH!!, and if by accident my invoicing files fell into the wrong hands or got lost online well who knows how much money I'd lose.
I make a physical backup of all my business stuff at the end of every day so I know that in the morning if my computer runs out of puff and dies on me its not that big a deal.

Oli

 

[manhunter2826]

Just a few questions from me:
- anyone here do internet banking? Or even online shopping? Are you worried about security?
- when was the last time you couldn't get an internet connection and how long did that last?
- when was the last time your preferred mail server went down?

So what's the big deal? Security? Connectivity? Reliability? I'm sure they're all covered.

I don't expect many consumers will be using the cloud but for businesses it would make perfect sense.

Yep, do both online banking and shopping - good adherence to security issues so am not worried but keep my wits about me
Internet outage has sometimes lasted up to 3/4 hrs but it's a rare occurrence.
I use webmail - Yahoo so see above

HTH.

 

[DarkDavil]

Well - I think its really great. Except for the security. Who's to say that a gov. can't demand to Google or some other major cloud company in the future to see all of your files and etc., and there's also those super-duper underground hacking gods...
No internet = FAIL
Security = Questionable
Success = Nope.
I think as of the moment my "Cloud" is my gmail and yahoo mail accounts - i always email myself important school files so that if i loose the copy i printed - i always have backup.
So i think that works - but everything is just a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[WiFi Ed]

No cloud apps for me I think...

If I need to access a document from anywhere on the planet I'll just access my Live Mesh/SkyDrive/Google Docs, etc. online folders (through WiFi - 3/4G broadband - LAN) and open the file with whatever version of Office is on my notebook.

If I can't get there using the above technologies, I'm probably in a place where I don't need or want to look at the docs anyway

 

[Positrondave]

Hell my place of work just "upgraded" to Office 2007. You say "cloud" they look in the sky. Businesses adopting cloud technology is a long way off.

 

[WindowsStar]

Smoke makes clouds. I think this guy is far off base. Reminds me the 80's when Unix was supposed to be taking over the world.

Ditto on that, then it was Server / Client in other words the Server would run all the applications and the client was a dumb terminal. IBM was a huge push on the dumb terminal would be the only thing around by 1995....hummm I guess not. For us the dumb terminals died about 1998, it took that long to get rid of all them and afford to replace them.

 

[CarlTR6]

Hell my place of work just "upgraded" to Office 2007. You say "cloud" they look in the sky. Businesses adopting cloud technology is a long way off.

Exactly.