Comments on: The problem with the “cloud model” http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/internet/the-problem-with-the-cloud-model/ open source, technology, high tech toys and the communities around them Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:28:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: dirk http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/internet/the-problem-with-the-cloud-model/comment-page-1/#comment-2278 dirk Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:07:53 +0000 http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/?p=121#comment-2278 Daniel is of course right - the context of this post may not be clear unless you read the Yahoo article (or were in the room during the panel). I am speaking specifically about the "Google model" and similar "free" services with a catch. I do have some concerns about the way many contracts even for the "paid for" services are written (they still tend to be excessively asymmetrical), but they were not the intended target of this post. Daniel is of course right – the context of this post may not be clear unless you read the Yahoo article (or were in the room during the panel).

I am speaking specifically about the “Google model” and similar “free” services with a catch.

I do have some concerns about the way many contracts even for the “paid for” services are written (they still tend to be excessively asymmetrical), but they were not the intended target of this post.

]]> By: Daniel http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/internet/the-problem-with-the-cloud-model/comment-page-1/#comment-2276 Daniel Fri, 28 Mar 2008 06:21:14 +0000 http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/?p=121#comment-2276 Hallo uncle Dirk! I do my best to avoid random posting in places, but I felt it important to comment here re: "cloud" services. - "freebie" services always include a certain level of mea culpa -- flickr is not the end-all-be-all archive of photographs for all time; gmail is not the indomitable fortress for email. - Once someone enters a fiduciary/financial contract of any sort for a service, the provider is beholden to the promises made during the signup or they can face litigation. Uptime guarantees, data backups and security, etc. all become legal liabilities that must be upheld. Considering the above the freebie "cloud" model, in the gmail sense, has been around for 10 years (hotmail/yahoo mail, etc.) and I am in complete agreement that you can't commit complete faith in "where your data is" with them. Modern rapid-provision VPS/"cloud computing" offerings such as amazon's EC2 and the unnamed service provider I work for, on the other hand, offer full guarantees as to where your data will (or won't!) be. You might consider this nitpicking but, while the colloquial term "cloud computing" still has some fleshing-out to do, it is definitely still in the proving grounds as a viable model and should not be confused with the aforementioned monolithic offerings. Anyhow, even though I didn't get to spend as much time chatting as I'd have liked, it was nice to see you (&k &h &s) again this month. Hallo uncle Dirk!

I do my best to avoid random posting in places, but I felt it important to comment here re: “cloud” services.

- “freebie” services always include a certain level of mea culpa — flickr is not the end-all-be-all archive of photographs for all time; gmail is not the indomitable fortress for email.

- Once someone enters a fiduciary/financial contract of any sort for a service, the provider is beholden to the promises made during the signup or they can face litigation. Uptime guarantees, data backups and security, etc. all become legal liabilities that must be upheld.

Considering the above the freebie “cloud” model, in the gmail sense, has been around for 10 years (hotmail/yahoo mail, etc.) and I am in complete agreement that you can’t commit complete faith in “where your data is” with them.

Modern rapid-provision VPS/”cloud computing” offerings such as amazon’s EC2 and the unnamed service provider I work for, on the other hand, offer full guarantees as to where your data will (or won’t!) be.

You might consider this nitpicking but, while the colloquial term “cloud computing” still has some fleshing-out to do, it is definitely still in the proving grounds as a viable model and should not be confused with the aforementioned monolithic offerings.

Anyhow, even though I didn’t get to spend as much time chatting as I’d have liked, it was nice to see you (&k &h &s) again this month.

]]> By: Rusty http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/internet/the-problem-with-the-cloud-model/comment-page-1/#comment-2275 Rusty Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:19:44 +0000 http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/?p=121#comment-2275 Well, that's kind of similar to what Google and others have in their terms of use... but then I guess that's your point. Well, that’s kind of similar to what Google and others have in their terms of use… but then I guess that’s your point.

]]> By: dirk http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/internet/the-problem-with-the-cloud-model/comment-page-1/#comment-2272 dirk Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:24:26 +0000 http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/?p=121#comment-2272 Yep, that's intentional. I have several (I've found four so far) "spamblogs" reusing my content verbatim - and so far they only use the RSS feed... Yep, that’s intentional. I have several (I’ve found four so far) “spamblogs” reusing my content verbatim – and so far they only use the RSS feed…

]]> By: Josh Bancroft http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/internet/the-problem-with-the-cloud-model/comment-page-1/#comment-2271 Josh Bancroft Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:46:07 +0000 http://www.hohndel.org/communitymatters/?p=121#comment-2271 Did you switch to a non-full-text feed? Starting recently, I'm only getting excerpts of your posts in my reader. On this post, this was all I got: <blockquote>During the panel that I participated in at OSBC the panelists were asked what they thought of the “Google model” of computing. I was rather negative about this. Actually, according to Yahoo News, I said “The Google model really scares me”. Yep, that sounds about right. I talked about this before. Where’s my data and [...]</blockquote> It's fine if you decided to make that change (thought I'd be interesting in hearing why ;-) ), or maybe something is broken. Anyway, just wanted to ask! :-) Did you switch to a non-full-text feed? Starting recently, I’m only getting excerpts of your posts in my reader.

On this post, this was all I got:

During the panel that I participated in at OSBC the panelists were asked what they thought of the “Google model” of computing. I was rather negative about this. Actually, according to Yahoo News, I said “The Google model really scares me”. Yep, that sounds about right. I talked about this before. Where’s my data and [...]

It’s fine if you decided to make that change (thought I’d be interesting in hearing why ;-) ), or maybe something is broken. Anyway, just wanted to ask! :-)

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