Got My Head in the Cloud(s)

Cowabunga!!

Most things I read, see or hear about lately seems to all be stemming from the same rooted idea: modern computing and technology is moving to "the cloud." From Windows 7's clever "To The Cloud" catchphrase commercials (one of them features April O'Neil!!), to Amazon's newest cloud service, Amazon Cloud Drive, it seems that the rooted idea is starting to germinate. 

Now, I like the idea of being able to access ALL of my information, data, music and videos from anywhere I want to. Having a solid 16GB in your pocket is nice, but for audiophiles like me, that's hardly a quarter of my music collection, not to mention having to save room for apps! It would make storage a non-issue. It would make have a smartphone, in a sense smarter. Also having the ability to bring up all the documents you've collected over the years, from resumes to tax information, is great.

Yeah, something like that.

However, this is where I kick the train off the tracks. I simply don't believe the world is ready for cloud-computing. Today's internet is not fast enough to handle that kind of traffic, especially mobile-wise. We are at the whim of the cell towers and satellites. Yes, with the promise of true 4G coming, upload and download speeds will increase heftily, but how long will it take for that to roll out and get fully implemented? Years? Most likely.

Putting you on lock-down.

And let's briefly touch on security issues (because it's a hot one!). In a society where safety and privacy is at the top of most people's list, this seems to be a pretty important subject. How safe will every one's information really be? Can we trust our sensitive information, family pictures and videos to be out on remote servers? I have a feeling most folks won't go for it like most of these companies are pressing for. At least not to the extreme extent as having your whole life in the cloud. Movies and music - most likely. Photos - perhaps. Personal data and information - probably not. They can boast the words "Safe & Secure" all they want, I'm not buying it. Have you ever heard of hackers???

But I won't knock 'em for trying. It's a novel concept, just not quite ready for the masses. Society is living life on their phones and tablets and laptops in huge fashion already. It's a matter of time before we're all cut free from wires and limited storage....mmm, Utopia.

Be well,