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Is your head buried in the clouds?

Nick

Nick

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CloudsIs the current rush to do absolutely everything online from word processing to social networking a dangerous trend? It is if you listen to open source guru and GNU founder Richard Stallman who recently launched a scathing attack on applications such as Gmail and other “Cloud Computing” online applications for what he called their locked and proprietary nature that will come with an increasing cost to users over time. In fact the exact phrase he used to describe such systems was “worse than stupidity” which won’t go down well with Microsoft who have announced that “Windows Cloud” – their new web based operating system – will be released within a month.

But hang on a minute: how can you be so negative about wonderful applications such as Gmail and Google Docs which have improved the working lives of millions for absolutely zilch? Is this just a case of sour grapes from Stallman because Google make quality applications for free much in the same way as he himself once did?

Well not quite. Stallman is understandably concerned firstly by the security aspect of such applications and secondly that companies like Google will increasingly start to charge for such services once they’ve got people online and “hooked”. Stallman has urged computer users to keep their information in their own hands, rather than hand it over to a third party. Stallman told The Guardian:

The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we’ve redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do. The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women’s fashion. Maybe I’m an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It’s complete gibberish. It’s insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?

Stallman definitely has a point but perhaps not a particularly new one. Most people nowadays are heavily reliant on online applications such as e-mail, social networking sites and photo/file hosting services to store their data. It’s almost an inevitable part of going online nowadays and can’t be avoided and unless you’ve really got something to hide, who cares? If you’re foolish enough to store something really sensitive online, then you should be prepared for potential breaches of privacy. In addition, Google’s servers are probably so reliable, I have more faith in them retaining my data than my own external hard drive backups.

As regards fears that Google may charge for some of its services, well it already does. Google Apps Premium is a prime example indicating that Google’s business plan is to only charge for high level services. Besides, if Google were to charge for any of it’s services, it would surely give users plenty of notice so they could save their data. At least in the case of Google Docs, it’s easy to import and export to desktop versions of Microsoft Office and that surely says a lot about their wish to ensure that the user is in control.

It’s more likely that Google would use advertising within its applications if it wanted to make serious money out of them. And even if they did charge a flat fee, whatever a company like Google would charge would be a minimal amount and for the convenience of something like Gmail, I for one would be happy to pay it. For now at least, I’m quite happy to keep my head firmly in the clouds.

Nick

Nick

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