Cloud?

Cloud: The word has just been uttered in the Acronis thread. I wonder what
others think? I'll kick off with my opinion.

Would you trust your data and your programs with another unknown person? Who
can say with certainty that it won't be snooped into, misused or modified
(subtly or otherwise) or that you will suddenly have to pay any chosen
amount (by that body) to get back your own information? And who can say
that they trust *any* goverment in the World to act at all times with
honesty and integrity or that any government in the World can never be
accused of extreme self-serving activity or suppressing information abouts
its wrong-doings (or anything else that happens to embarrass it) or of
putting pressure on private companies to do its bidding.

Sure, by using the Cloud you transfer the need for processing power and for
updating software. But with the cost of processing power ludicrously low who
cares if in the end you are going to pay more.

Over to you. I have been lurking here for a while (and occasionally posting)
I am struck by the lack of foul language and nastiness, and the standard of
reasonable debate.

Cheers

On Sun, 1 Jan 2012 06:57:41 +1100, "blank" <>
wrote:

>Cloud: The word has just been uttered in the Acronis thread. I wonder what
>others think? I'll kick off with my opinion.
>
>Would you trust your data and your programs with another unknown person? Who
>can say with certainty that it won't be snooped into, misused or modified
>(subtly or otherwise) or that you will suddenly have to pay any chosen
>amount (by that body) to get back your own information? And who can say
>that they trust *any* goverment in the World to act at all times with
>honesty and integrity or that any government in the World can never be
>accused of extreme self-serving activity or suppressing information abouts
>its wrong-doings (or anything else that happens to embarrass it) or of
>putting pressure on private companies to do its bidding.
>
>Sure, by using the Cloud you transfer the need for processing power and for
>updating software. But with the cost of processing power ludicrously low who
>cares if in the end you are going to pay more.
>
>Over to you. I have been lurking here for a while (and occasionally posting)
>I am struck by the lack of foul language and nastiness, and the standard of
>reasonable debate.
>
>Cheers
>

Well, as time goes by, the sites that rip people off will be exposed.
As well as the reliable ones. Me? I would wait before trusting some
such service with critical files. Maybe stuff I want to back up that
are either not too important to me or that I already have backed up.
At least, until the reviews are in. : )

And Cloud isn't new or exclusive to Acronis. I got a free storage
account when I bought my Asus netbook a couple of years ago.

On Sun, 1 Jan 2012 06:57:41 +1100, "blank" <>
wrote:

>Would you trust your data and your programs with another unknown person?

Person? Perhaps not, but a business operating in that capacity, yes. I
have no need myself, but I've set up quite a few customers with online
backup and they seem to like it.

>Who
>can say with certainty that it won't be snooped into, misused or modified
>(subtly or otherwise) or that you will suddenly have to pay any chosen
>amount (by that body) to get back your own information?

If you're worried about it, just don't do it.

>And who can say
>that they trust *any* goverment in the World to act at all times with
>honesty and integrity or that any government in the World can never be
>accused of extreme self-serving activity or suppressing information abouts
>its wrong-doings (or anything else that happens to embarrass it) or of
>putting pressure on private companies to do its bidding.

This isn't a government conspiracy newsgroup.

--

Char Jackson

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:33:21 -0500, Brian Matthews
<> wrote:

>On Sun, 1 Jan 2012 06:57:41 +1100, "blank" <>
>wrote:
>
>>Cloud: The word has just been uttered in the Acronis thread. I wonder what
>>others think? I'll kick off with my opinion.
>>
>>Would you trust your data and your programs with another unknown person? Who
>>can say with certainty that it won't be snooped into, misused or modified
>>(subtly or otherwise) or that you will suddenly have to pay any chosen
>>amount (by that body) to get back your own information? And who can say
>>that they trust *any* goverment in the World to act at all times with
>>honesty and integrity or that any government in the World can never be
>>accused of extreme self-serving activity or suppressing information abouts
>>its wrong-doings (or anything else that happens to embarrass it) or of
>>putting pressure on private companies to do its bidding.
>>
>>Sure, by using the Cloud you transfer the need for processing power and for
>>updating software. But with the cost of processing power ludicrously low who
>>cares if in the end you are going to pay more.
>>
>>Over to you. I have been lurking here for a while (and occasionally posting)
>>I am struck by the lack of foul language and nastiness, and the standard of
>>reasonable debate.
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>
>Well, as time goes by, the sites that rip people off will be exposed.
>As well as the reliable ones. Me? I would wait before trusting some
>such service with critical files. Maybe stuff I want to back up that
>are either not too important to me or that I already have backed up.
>At least, until the reviews are in. : )
>
>And Cloud isn't new or exclusive to Acronis. I got a free storage
>account when I bought my Asus netbook a couple of years ago.

For that matter how many people have actually read the disclaimer
offered when installing MS operating systems and banks when they admit
they will be sharing your personal data with third parties like credit
card people and others. Then there is the Patriot act well after the
fact. Not to mention wire tapping by the free USA none the least.

On 12/31/2011 2:57 PM, blank wrote:

Don't kid yourself because companies are out there using cloud technology.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_azure>
<http://www.top10dedicatedhosting.com/en/?p=1184>

<http://www.talkincloud.com/how-a-media-company-cashed-in-on-windows-azure/>

<http://www.onwindows.com/Articles/Chicago-Tribune-embraces-Azure/5244/Default.aspx>

http://aws.amazon.com/web-hosting/

<http://gcn.com/articles/2009/05/18/web-apps-cloud-computing.aspx>

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:07:19 -0600, Char Jackson <>
wrote:

>On Sun, 1 Jan 2012 06:57:41 +1100, "blank" <>
>wrote:
>
>>Would you trust your data and your programs with another unknown person?
>
>Person? Perhaps not, but a business operating in that capacity, yes. I
>have no need myself, but I've set up quite a few customers with online
>backup and they seem to like it.
>
>>Who
>>can say with certainty that it won't be snooped into, misused or modified
>>(subtly or otherwise) or that you will suddenly have to pay any chosen
>>amount (by that body) to get back your own information?
>
>If you're worried about it, just don't do it.
>
>>And who can say
>>that they trust *any* goverment in the World to act at all times with
>>honesty and integrity or that any government in the World can never be
>>accused of extreme self-serving activity or suppressing information abouts
>>its wrong-doings (or anything else that happens to embarrass it) or of
>>putting pressure on private companies to do its bidding.
>
>This isn't a government conspiracy newsgroup.

Danger will Robinson.

On Sun, 1 Jan 2012 06:57:41 +1100, blank wrote:
>
> Cloud: The word has just been uttered in the Acronis thread. I wonder what
> others think? I'll kick off with my opinion.
>
> Would you trust your data and your programs with another unknown person?

Emphatically no. First, you never know if they'll still be around,
or if they'll have a server crash and lose all the data they promised
to keep. Second, you never know if they'll be hacked, and your
backed-up financial records stolen, decrypted, and used for identity
theft.

It's important to store your backups in a different physical location
from the original computer, in case of fire. But for most of us that
is better doe on disk at a friend's house or in our own desk at work.
(Obviously that assumed the backups are passworded, but why would you
make them any other way?)


--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

On 31/12/2011 19:57, blank wrote:
> Cloud: The word has just been uttered in the Acronis thread. I wonder what
> others think? I'll kick off with my opinion.
>
> Would you trust your data and your programs with another unknown person? Who
> can say with certainty that it won't be snooped into, misused or modified
> (subtly or otherwise) or that you will suddenly have to pay any chosen
> amount (by that body) to get back your own information? And who can say
> that they trust *any* goverment in the World to act at all times with
> honesty and integrity or that any government in the World can never be
> accused of extreme self-serving activity or suppressing information abouts
> its wrong-doings (or anything else that happens to embarrass it) or of
> putting pressure on private companies to do its bidding.
>
> Sure, by using the Cloud you transfer the need for processing power and for
> updating software. But with the cost of processing power ludicrously low who
> cares if in the end you are going to pay more.
>
> Over to you. I have been lurking here for a while (and occasionally posting)
> I am struck by the lack of foul language and nastiness, and the standard of
> reasonable debate.
>

Well, mass storage is incredibly cheap these days - many terabytes for
not many $. How many terabytes do you need?

If you want secure off-site storage, you could arrange that yourself
without resorting to The Cloud. And while we are on security, what's
wrong with encrypting your data before you send it for storage (wherever
that is)?

--

Jeff

On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:57:27 +0000, Jeff Layman
<> wrote:

>Well, mass storage is incredibly cheap these days - many terabytes for
>not many $. How many terabytes do you need?

Or at least it was incredibly cheap until the factories had to close
to accommodate the floods...

--

Char Jackson

"Brian Matthews" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Sun, 1 Jan 2012 06:57:41 +1100, "blank" <>
> wrote:
>
>>Cloud: The word has just been uttered in the Acronis thread. I wonder what
>>others think? I'll kick off with my opinion.
>>
>>Would you trust your data and your programs with another unknown person?
>>Who
>>can say with certainty that it won't be snooped into, misused or modified
>>(subtly or otherwise) or that you will suddenly have to pay any chosen
>>amount (by that body) to get back your own information? And who can say
>>that they trust *any* goverment in the World to act at all times with
>>honesty and integrity or that any government in the World can never be
>>accused of extreme self-serving activity or suppressing information abouts
>>its wrong-doings (or anything else that happens to embarrass it) or of
>>putting pressure on private companies to do its bidding.
>>
>>Sure, by using the Cloud you transfer the need for processing power and
>>for
>>updating software. But with the cost of processing power ludicrously low
>>who
>>cares if in the end you are going to pay more.
>>
>>Over to you. I have been lurking here for a while (and occasionally
>>posting)
>>I am struck by the lack of foul language and nastiness, and the standard
>>of
>>reasonable debate.
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>
> Well, as time goes by, the sites that rip people off will be exposed.
> As well as the reliable ones. Me? I would wait before trusting some
> such service with critical files. Maybe stuff I want to back up that
> are either not too important to me or that I already have backed up.
> At least, until the reviews are in. : )
>
> And Cloud isn't new or exclusive to Acronis. I got a free storage
> account when I bought my Asus netbook a couple of years ago.

I wasn't thinking of Acronis.