Ten Reasons Why Cloud Computing is a Bad Idea

If you haven’t jumped into the Cloud Computing bandwagon yet, here are ten reasons why you should reconsider.

Note:The above image is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Feel free to use it.

Cloud Computing makes your IT excessively dependent on the Internet

Cloud Computing exists on the premise that the Internet will always be as robust and reliable for all time to come. While one can be fairly optimistic, there is always the danger of the unforeseen. For example, Congressmen in the United States are pushing for bills that can shutdown/limit Internet traffic in the event of war, so that the sheeple stick to their prescribed content on television. Another country, Syria, managed to completely erase itself from the Internet when civil war broke out in late 2012.  If a Company loses Internet connectivity to its Cloud even for a few days, as a result of an Internet outage affecting either it or the Cloud Computing Service, there could be very damaging consequences. I am not talking about your E-store going offline. Suppose the daily activities of your Company were on a database on a Cloud? In such a scenario, you may wish your servers were in that makeshift bunker in your backyard, rather than on the Cloud.

And because of its dependence on the Internet, Cloud Computing can never perform as a substitute for in-house servers. For example, there are speed limits, related to hardware and bandwidth, when transferring data to and from the Cloud via the Internet. Using VPNs and SSL tunnels can further slow the speed.

Cloud Computing will attract clients mainly from Western markets

Cloud Computing implicitly assumes that the Internet is as robust throughout the world as it is in North America, Europe and some parts of Asia. But clients from countries where Internet connectivity is sporadic will be discouraged from boarding the Cloud. And no, I am not talking about Namibia. IT powerhouse India still has sporadic Internet connectivity. The general speed of the Internet is still very poor. The infrastructure is so haphazard that most Indian Internet subscribers prefer the limited speeds of wireless mobile Internet from the cell phone companies, rather than trust the cable/landline infrastructure. In addition, uninterrupted supply of electricity is still unrealised in India. A power outage affecting any intermediary can cripple access to the Cloud. Indian IT giants have learnt the hard way not to trust state infrastructure, even for electricity. They keep their own backup power generation on site. Adopting any trend that makes them more dependent on state infrastructure will require more than a leap of faith.

Cloud Computing makes you dependent on the goodwill of your ISP

Cloud Computing may require gratuitous bandwidth for the client, depending on what the client is hosting on the Cloud. And the same ISPs who are clamouring for bandwidth caps may charge and arm and a leg if the client exceeds his or her bandwidth quota.

Cloud Computing can expose you to the unethical practices of your ISP

Major ISPs have come under fire for spying on their customer’s P2P networks on behalf of the Recording Industry. Can these ISPs be trusted with sensitive traffic to and from the Cloud? We are told that everything will be encrypted through VPNs. But still, given the tainted role of ISPs, can ISPs be trusted for non-encrypted traffic?

Cloud Computing is against the spirit of Personal Computing

Personal Computers were meant to empower individuals, make them more independent and productive. Most of today’s industry heavyweights owe their success to living up to these expectations. Microsoft and IBM’s unexpected touting of Cloud Computing is more akin to Toyota adopting the business model of a car rental agency (If that were to happen, Toyota may likewise rebrand itself in the fashion of Silicon Valley, as a subscription based Transport Service Provider).

It is no surprise that old timers, such as Steve Wozniak who have been at the forefront of the development of personal computing, have publicly voiced their concerns over Cloud Computing.

Cloud Computing makes your Cloud Data subject to American law

Since most of the major Cloud Computing servers are operated by companies based in the United States, data you put on your Cloud is subject to American law. And the American law in turn, is subject to overrides, loopholes, “Patriot Acts,” and exceptions, depending on which governmental agency (or which person/interest) wants your data. You may not even be informed that your data was compromised for the same reason Jack Bauer gets away with torturing his hostages/prisoners (national security). And even if there is no “national security” issue, Cloud data no longer needs a warrant to be obtained by the authorities. To quote,

CLOUD DATA

Documents, Photos, and Other Stuff Stored Online

How They Get It:

Authorities typically need only a subpoena to get data from Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive, and other services that allow users to store data on their servers, or “in the cloud,” as it’s known.

What the Law Says:

The law treats cloud data the same as draft emails — authorities don’t need a warrant to get it. But files that you’ve shared with others — say, a collaboration using Google Docs — might require a warrant under the ECPA if it’s considered “communication” rather than stored data. “That’s a very hard rule to apply,” says Greg Nojeim, a senior counsel with the Center for Democracy & Technology. “It actually makes no sense for the way we communicate today.”

And before reaching the Cloud, your data will pass through American ISPs that provide the Cloud with uptime. It could be intercepted by State Agencies even before it reaches the Cloud.

A case point is that of Amazon Web Services, a flagship of the cloud computing model. Amazon Web Services quietly booted whistleblowing website Wikileaks off their cloud computing servers. This was done without any court order. Looks like Amazon Web Services is also a flagship of the American government. In another piece of news, Amazon has won a $600 million contract to build a Cloud Computing System for the CIA.

Most American businesses with a shred of integrity in this regard have already closed doors, and therefore those that remain in business should be considered suspect. Take the case of Lavabit, a highly secure (and free) POP/IMAP/Webmail email service. This service was used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. On 8th August 2013, Lavabit users were greeted with the following message:

My Fellow Users,

I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit. After significant soul searching, I have decided to suspend operations. I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on–the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests.

What’s going to happen now? We’ve already started preparing the paperwork needed to continue to fight for the Constitution in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. A favorable decision would allow me resurrect Lavabit as an American company.

This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_ recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with physical ties to the United States.

Sincerely,
Ladar Levison
Owner and Operator, Lavabit LLC

Defending the constitution is expensive! Help us by donating to the Lavabit Legal Defense Fund here.

Or take the case of Cryptoseal Privacy, a VPN service which suddenly shuttered leaving perplexed users with the following message:

With immediate effect as of this notice, CryptoSeal Privacy, our consumer VPN service, is terminated. All cryptographic keys used in the operation of the service have been zerofilled, and while no logs were produced (by design) during operation of the service, all records created incidental to the operation of the service have been deleted to the best of our ability. Essentially, the service was created and operated under a certain understanding of current US law, and that understanding may not currently be valid. As we are a US company and comply fully with US law, but wish to protect the privacy of our users, it is impossible for us to continue offering the CryptoSeal Privacy consumer VPN product.

In other words, if your service provider is based in America and hasn’t already shuttered over ethical concerns, chances are that it is sharing your data with the NSA.

Cloud Computing can expose your Confidential Data to “Corrupt Elements” (and no, I am not talking about hackers and identity thieves)

Since corruption in Western society is more of an invitation-only club, most people refer to it only in couched terms. But unless you are really naive, it is a reality you must be prepared to deal with. Back in 2004, a Utah guy got an application for a major credit card. The problem was that the name and address on the application had only been provided to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

The bad news is not that American State Agencies have backdoor access to American corporations. Rather, American corporations have an incestuous relationship with American State Agencies. If suppose you are a non-American corporation with your Cloud hosted by an American corporation, and your main competitor is an American heavyweight with backdoor access to the State Agencies, your confidential data on the Cloud may be just a few phone calls away. American corporations are known to use the State Agencies as personal armies, although very little of this gets documented. Worse, if the CEO of the Company that hosts your Cloud and the CEO of your competitor belong to the same fraternity, your confidential data on the cloud may be just a handshake away. Of course, your data on the Cloud is encrypted and cannot be accessed by anyone other than yourself. But then, there are always exceptions.

Amazon Web Services is considered to be a flagship of the Cloud Computing model. In July 2009, Amazon.com sneakily deleted etexts off its users Kindles. Ironically, the extexts deleted were George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984. Both these books deal with the suppression of dissent by totalitarian regimes. The furore that followed the move was attributed to the fact that Amazon.com had remotely deleted files that were on the user’s own device, and therefore the move was like a hacker-style intrusion. But if suppose the Kindle followed the Cloud Computing model, where ebooks were read and stored online instead of the device itself, Amazon.com would probably never get caught. And the unavailablity of these titles could be attributed to an innocuous server outage.

In April 2010, China hijacked the Internet for 18 minutes by “tricking” other telecom routers. Nearly 15% of all American civilian and military Internet traffic was quietly redirected into Chinese networks before being rerouted without delay. If your cloud data transfers were included in this traffic, there is a possibility that it is being dissected somewhere in Beijing. Regular users of cloud computing should be warned that their data transfers can fall into the hand of whichever nation that goes on a bandwidth sucking rampage.

Cloud Computing is sounding more like a Lobby than a Trend

Suddenly, all ringers, gurus, and experts are clamouring for Cloud Computing. Articles are appearing in respectable publications weighing the pros and cons. Business heads are flaunting how they managed to cut costs. Does this remind you of Big Tobacco, Big Sugar, Big Science and Big Pharma? Do you buy into the pitch? Are you willing to “invest” your data in the scheme?

Cloud Computing may be of little consequence for the Average Small Business

The May 2009 issue of WIRED carried an interesting article on Cloud Computing, highlighting pros and cons. The key example cited in favour of Cloud Computing was an Eli Lily information consultant, who as a client of Amazon Web Services uses his iPhone to run “genomic analysis” on the Cloud. How many businesses executives can picture themselves doing this?

Cloud Computing may not contribute to your national economy

When you buy the hardware, software and technical expertise for setting up a server locally, you are supporting several local businesses. With Cloud Computing, you bypass all of these. But aren’t the major Cloud Computing providers American owned and American based? Yes they are. But when they get things figured out, they might consider outsourcing. And Cloud Computing is very feasible to outsource. Given their track record, they don’t exactly cherish employing Americans, unless Obama forces them to do so.

Update (An Eleventh Reason?): Cloud Computing may not be as reliable as touted.

To quote AP News 21/04/2011,

Major websites including Foursquare and Reddit crashed or suffered slowdowns Thursday after technical problems rattled Amazon.com’s widely used Web servers, frustrating millions of people who couldn’t access their favorite sites.

Though better known for selling books, DVDs and other consumer goods, Amazon also rents out space on huge computer servers that run many websites and other online services.

The problems began at an Amazon data center near Dulles Airport outside Washington and persisted into the afternoon. The failures were widespread, but they varied in severity.

HootSuite, which lets users monitor Twitter and other social networks more easily, was down completely, as was questions-and-answers site Quora.

The location-sharing social network Foursquare experienced glitches, while the news-sharing site Reddit was in “emergency read-only mode.”

Many other companies that use Amazon Web Services, like Netflix Inc. and Zynga Inc., which runs Facebook games, appeared to be unscathed. Amazon has at least one other major data center that stayed up, in California.

No one knew for sure how many people were inconvenienced, but the services affected are used by millions.

Amazon Web Services provide “cloud” or utility-style computing in which customers pay only for the computing power and storage they need, on remote computers.

Lydia Leong, an analyst for the tech research firm Gartner, said that judging by details posted on Amazon’s AWS status page, a network connection failed Thursday morning, triggering an automatic recovery mechanism that then also failed.

Amazon’s computers are divided into groups that are supposed to be independent of each other. If one group fails, others should stay up. And customers are encouraged to spread the computers they rent over several groups to ensure reliable service. But Thursday’s problem took out many groups simultaneously.

Streetfire.com
Screengrab from an Amazon Web Services customer, Streetfire.net. Dated 22/04/2011 @ 9:21 PM AST.

Update (a Twelfth reason?): Michael Chertoff Loves Cloud Computing

Michael Chertoff Shape Shifting....

In 1999, an obscure conspiracy theorist, David Icke,  made a startling claim. He stated that the ruling elite of the Western world were actually shape-shifting lizards. This theory became a laughing matter and was even used to smear genuine conspiracy theorists. But no matter how much time passed, the theory would simply not die. Ask any follower of Icke, and they will point you to images of the ruling elite, such as this photograph of Michael Chertoff (Secretary of homeland security from 2005 to 2009). That is supposedly the face he makes before shape-shifting into a ten foot lizard. Even we are to dismiss the claims of Icke’s followers, the generally accepted consensus among the alternate media is that the man exists to defecate on the liberties of the American people. Chertoff’s grandpoppa is of Russian origin, and in Soviet Russia, Internet surfs YOU! In a February 9th 2012 op-ed in the Washington post, Chertoff can be seen whining how EU privacy laws may “balkanize” the Internet, because American Cloud Computing providers will not be allowed to invade the privacy of their European customers.

Update (A Thirteenth Reason?): Like it or not, Cloud Computing is being forced down your throat

In late June of 2012, some Internet users discovered that they were being prevented from accessing certain websites that contained keywords relating to porn and copyright infringement. It turns out that Cisco had remotely updated their router software, forcing them to use a new cloud service that censored websites containing the aforementioned keywords. In order for the censorship to work, the urls the Internet users were visiting were being forwarded to Cisco’s Connect Cloud Service and people rightly feared that Cisco was using the Cloud to spy on their Internet activities. Cisco quickly backtracked and issued an apology.

This is your PC on Cloud Computing!
Was the babyish-looking Windows 8 Tile Interface a sinister attempt to force down Cloud Computing?

In more recent shenanigans, the babyish design of the Windows 8 tile interface was discovered to be another attempt to shove Cloud Computing on unsuspecting computer users. While the Tile interface is great for touchscreens and tablets, it can be fairly problematic when it comes to managing files. There is no way to access the Windows file system through it. The Tiles got the Windows user base so grumpy that Windows 8 caused the most precipitous decline in PC history! And the dumbed down approach has caused such consternation among power users that the free Windows 8.1 update restores the classic “Start” button and allows users to bypass the Tile interface to reach the good old “Desktop.”  Microsoft has touted the Tile interface as a way for your apps and programs to provide you with updated information while running in the background. But the apps and programs that provide “live” info through Tiles are mainly cloud based apps. For example, Microsoft charges a hefty price for its Outlook mail client. Any rational user would expect that there would be an Outlook Tile which would notify them of new messages, reminders and calendar appointments, given the simplicity of programming such a Tile. But no, there ain’t. The only usable Tile that can be used for email and calendar hooks up  to Microsoft’s cloud-based email service. Outlook users drawing mail from their own email service providers are simply not invited to the Tile interface. To quote on exasperated user:

They are trying to FORCE people into the cloud, Their cloud in order to get these tiles to work at all.

And another user:

I think that Microsoft will soon find itself under the guns of the law AGAIN if they don’t release a way for people to use these features with an enterprise environment WITHOUT having to use their live accounts.  It is crazy to think that they are trying to force an enterprise user to use their mail and calendar apps, but won’t let you use your information locally in it.  I think that Microsoft ahs really missed the mark here.  I know that most tester and die-hards will just say “use the main Outlook” and I am.  Here is the point though, IF you are going to supposedly revolutionize Windows and take away a]our START button and force us to use the new UI, Then the LEAST you can do is make all the bells and whistles offered work Locally and through your new online service. Don’t tell us that in order for it to work, we can only use yours.

The Mail and Calendar Tiles that do work in Windows 8 sync up with Microsoft’s servers. Given the fact that Microsoft has officially admitted to releasing the data of 137,424 of its users to various world governments, can it be trusted with such private information?

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118 Responses

  1. David Rice says:

    This reads like a buggy whip manufacturer trying to convince a consumer interested in an automobile in the 1920's, that cars are just a passing fad so they ought to stay with their horse and carriage.

    Sorry to have to be the one to let you in on this. But when Facebook and Youtube are better designed, better performing applications then enterorise resource planning systems like SAP, it's game over!

    It's like trying to convince the masses to do their banking with a walk-up teller as opposed to an ATM. Over the next 2 to 5 years you're going to see a mass exodus from the old paradigm as companies race to move their compute facilities into the cloud. It's no longer a question of whether or not this will take place.

    • Bruce says:

      Cloud Computing is just a way to increase Microsoft’s Revenue. If you use SQL Azure, you are turning over your data to Microsoft; they own your data and you now rely on them. Once on the cloud, it’s difficult to change back to an ordinary hosting provider. Microsoft’s goal is to have several datacenters that the world relies on. This way, all transactions must go through Microsoft’s Cloud and you can’t do business wihtout going through the cloud. Whoever owns the largest cloud, will control business in the future.. It’s not a good idea at all..

    • Donovan says:

      @David Rice: You sound like a salesperson for the cloud format. Ur metaphators are rather silly. Cloud computing is bad because it seperates u form ur media/pix/documents. Would u keep all of ur valuables at a total strangers house, or would u keep them at ur house where u can use/view them anytime without any interference or hinderance from a third party. Centralizing all our info to a third party and depending on the net to access it is the dumbest idea i’ve ever heard.

      • Bruce says:

        Summed up perfectly.

        One of my clients uses their ISP’s webmail instead of something local like Outlook.

        The ISP recently changed their webmail interface. Now, all his contact groups are gone and he will need to manually recreate them, whether he foolishly continues to rely on the new webmail interface or not. It’s going to be painful either way.

        I used Facebook as an example. Let’s say they disappear tomorrow. Do you have a copy of all your pictures on your own computer? Do you have your friends’ contact info stored somewhere else?

    • Gary Roberts says:

      Your missing the point of this article. The internet once in total control of all computing can go in which ever direction the controllers of the internet choose. Americans make a big deal about not giving up their guns. Well giving up your ability to control your on data and computing on your own server completely severs you from control of you data. Corporations can control what is written to the internet. Also, outsourcing is a major issue. Most companies now outsource most of their customer services to other countries to pay lower wages. In the thirties GM and other car manufactures along with oil companies bought up major trolley companies and dismantled them in an effort to force people to rely on privately owned automobiles. That’s the same type of future we will face with computing if everything is moved to the cloud. We have enjoyed a continuous improvement of personal computing over the last decade Processors and hard drives were becoming more powerful and less expensive. That will change as more computing goes to the cloud. There is nothing wrong with some cloud computing, but not at the expense of losing all control of computing.

      • Dana says:

        Totally true. Think about it – if there are only a few super-large cloud providers in 10 years running all computing for the entire world…imagine the lack of progress? What incentive is there for companies like HP to build open hardware that is cheap when there are only 1-2 major customers? Computers will become obsolete and we will see only two devices: light clients that are tethered to the cloud, and supercomputer-like servers (like an AT&T 5ESS) that are highly proprietary and run operating systems that only the cloud provider knows how to run. If Microsoft never releases another Windows server OS and only supplies Azure as their computing platform for applications in 10 years, you won’t have a choice and will have to run Microsoft’s whole stack…you won’t be able to run Oracle with your own applications. Everything will be vanilla – this is OVER standardization…and it will stifle the entire progress the IT industry has made in the past 20 years. We are going back to the days of mainframes and terminals…that is all “cloud” computing really is.

      • Ben Hunt says:

        Another angle, which isn’t really touched on, is the PERCEIVED downsides of cloud computing versus hosted (LAN) solutions. I have a client who sells a CRM solution built on SQL Server and all MS tech. Their customers are mainly US-based small businesses, and they LOVE the idea of being in total control of their own data! Sometimes those of us in IT need to get out of the building and actually speak to real end-users! Then we’ll realise that facts that may appear cut-and-dried to us just don’t transfer to the market. SMBs are often risk-averse and conservative, and even if storing your business data on the cloud is safe, fast, efficient, and cost-effective, if it APPEARS to be risky to the market, it’s risky! More here > http://webdesignfromscratch.com/digital-strategy/think-again-about-cloud-based-apps/

    • Richard Manson says:

      Well article is is somewhat correct when it raises concerns about the connectivity itself to cloud, see if its just about the internet prices it may become cheaper in future but availabilty considering uptime of ISP and other issues they may or may not improve because they are solely dependent upon individual ISPs so nothing could be commented upon thr quality of broadband they will deliver at cheaper rates.

    • Rob says:

      wrong.patently wrong. companies will learn that leaving their data on remote servers like Amazon or Google, is going to leave them exposed to much more danger,hacks,theft,and so on..as many companies have started to see that it is best to bring support centers in-house ,thus killing the outsourcing trend of the 90s, companies will stop buying in to the ‘cloud’ services..145 million people had their data read during a recent hack of Target..if they can’t be trusted to secure your credit card data, can we trust amazon to secure your companies data? hell no..
      only a fool would put their data on a 3rd party server of which they have NO control..

    • Cole Davis says:

      I’ve seen the Cloud in action. There’s a company in London that has committed itself to the technology. So whenever their internet connection doesn’t work, the staff sit doing nothing because all their documents and spreadsheets are on the internet not on their own computers.

    • Will Killyou says:

      It is a bad, who care about your new paradigm. The new paradigm is all about service fees and selling your personal information not to mention eves dropping. People should not use cloud services period!

      • Fred Fisher says:

        Hit the nail on the head. Apple killed the iPod classic not because they could not longer get the parts to build it, they killed it because it gave too much control to the individual. Apple wanted to move everyone to “stream” their music from the cloud. It is all about control and money. When I asked an Apple “Genius” they stated that “Apple wants you to manage your music better…” I would rather have my music on my 160gb ipod classic. It works everywhere anytime. how do you stream music where there is no cell phone, internet connection? You don’t.

        Businesses like Lowes, Home Depot, Starbucks etc. have all of their registers hooked up to the “cloud”. What happens when the connection is slow or is gone all together? You wait in long lines or the store can’t operate. This is going forward?!?!?

  2. Hamad Subani says:

    There is a difference between using cloud computing for uploading a diecoke + mentos video to youtube, twittering or updating your facebook profile versus putting your critical application databases on a cloud.

    Some applications such as ATMs are dependent on the cloud. But that doesn't mean every other application has to.

  3. Hamad Subani says:

    Email message from Richard Stallman (reproduced with permission):

    […….] I think a lot of your points are valid points about SOMETHING, but…

    The term “cloud computing” is so nebulous that we should not use it at
    all. It is used to refer to many different practices, with different
    consequences. Some cases have problems including the ones that you
    describe, and others don’t.

    So I’ve concluded we should not use that term, and instead we should
    use specific terms that describe specific practices. I think there
    are at last three we should distinguish:

    * Software as a service

    * Remote server rental

    * Remote application hosting service

    Point taken! This article is about the aforementioned forms of cloud computing. The term cloud computing in general, is indeed cloudy.

  4. Preston says:

    "The term 'cloud computing' is so nebulous that we should not use it at

    all. It is used to refer to many different practices, with different

    consequences. Some cases have problems including the ones that you

    describe, and others don’t."

    The term is just another marketing buzzword to describe the Internet. You could replace the phrase "cloud computing" with Internet or intranet and it would mean the same thing. The tech press is one of the dumbest, most buzzword-laden group of press in the world and invent all kinds of stupid terms to for people make money off of, from "blog" to "Web 2.0."

  5. sergi bosch says:

    a sobering article. and some thoughtful comments. love it.

  6. nugget says:

    I remember what we called ‘computers’ were just a terminal, (screen & keyboard), and all of these computers connected to a real computer(s) somewhere else. The data wasn’t yours you just interacted with it from a distance. That was a cloud.
    If I remember correctly there was a big rush to get away from that kind of yoking, wasn’t there? …Enter the PC. Networking yes, cloud no!

    • Hamad Subani says:

      Quoting nugget,

      I remember what we called ‘computers’ were just a terminal, (screen & keyboard), and all of these computers connected to a real computer(s) somewhere else. The data wasn’t yours you just interacted with it from a distance. That was a cloud.
      If I remember correctly there was a big rush to get away from that kind of yoking, wasn’t there? …Enter the PC. Networking yes, cloud no!

      In fact, what you are saying was characteristic of IBM during that period. At a time when other giants were moving towards personal computing, IBM stuck to mainframes with the “terminals” you described. IBM then disappeared from the race. Its currently owned by Chinese interests.

  7. Paulo Jarschel says:

    I totally agree with you.

  8. Z says:

    Cloud Computing as many people are realizing is a very efficient computing method. I agree with all the issues that the author specified in the article. This is interesting to what will REALLY happen at the end, an how the Cloud will be adopted. Also it is interesting to see which groups of people are notoriously for it, and those notoriously against it.

    I have read over a 100 different articles in the past 5-6 days, both from business perspective and deep-down technical perspective about Cloud Computing, and unfortunately the only thing that most are mentioning is its great 'advantages', and the only disadvantage being 'security'. Yet much of the other issues are completely ignored, such as these just mentioned above. Adopting the Public Cloud model may eventually create

    It is interesting to observe that lots of small/medium/large enterprises are suddenly starting to discuss more about Private Clouds, which basically means, keep your Data Center and run it, just convert it into a Private Cloud to make it far more efficient and scalable, and there are now many competing companies in the US that are developing just the software technologies (both proprietary and non-proprietary) to make it happen. Its just that small businesses are yet to realize this, especially when they realize that Google Apps will lock them in over time into a very tight cage from which it will be tough to get out of.

    • red says:

      Cloud is shit people are paying for space on net which is stored with evilamerican companies that want to control the world (just like apple) but i believe many people will do it because simple people who never liked computers befir use them niw because they are so simple but smarter people like it in complicated mode so there is more options you are in control i believe as well it is just a way to have control over people welcome to the world of evil fuckin american companies!!

      • blue says:

        “evil” companies aren’t just in a America, wake up, like somewhere else if full of honest people that don’t experience greed.

  9. Steve C says:

    When you say "an executive from Eli Lilly" how did you surmise this? The article says nothing of Dave Powers title or role. When I read it, I assumed he was in sys admin.

    Cloud computing is the next big thing yes. Is it going to take over the way we operate businesses? Until the legalities surrounding the "controversial" bits are sorted out, I highly doubt it. It is however a great alternative to small and mid size businesses who cannot afford the capEx required to build their own in house system.

    Hamad Subani: Correction noted in main article regarding Eli Lily information consultant, not executive.

  10. JohnP says:

    There's a difference between cloud computing today and the old mainframe model. The mainframe was accessed by a dedicated network connection and was managed by experts who prevented any possible access from other parties.

    Today, server and storage systems "in the cloud" can be accessed by anyone in the world connected to the internet. That's a completely different risk level than before.

    Many of the SaaS vendors are not experts at computer or network security and when they are breached, all customer data is accessible.

    Many of the storage vendors don't really provide bulletproof data encryption for both storage and network access.

    Many of the server renting vendors leave security at the host level without any network security. As a customer, you are responsible for providing any software firewall rules or VPN requirement to the system(s). What happens when you get a rule wrong and can no longer access your rented server? Or worse, you don't bother with this and get hacked for months before you (or anyone else) notices.

  11. brain says:

    fuck the cloud! its just one more way for the us government to control us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  12. brian says:

    no cloud. the people who prance around saying it will replace normal computers are wrong. 😡

  13. Rick Powell says:

    Iran’s plagued Nuke program comes to mind (worm attack). If WWIII has started and it’s a Cyber War, who is going to protect MY data and my access? The Govt? You ISP? Your VPN provider? Don’t sell you back-up hardware yet.

  14. Greta says:

    I dare to suggest an eleventh reason why cloud computing is a bad idea (pretty bad I’d say): The cultural cost we are paying for it. In order to avoid the reasonable cost of buying our own hardware, we give away the capacity to manage our basic information to hiper-centralized corporations, and we become indulgent to advertisment, just to save a few bucks…

    For an interesting piece on this subject: http://www.riorevuelto.org/site/index.php?text=view&tipo=&bot=&id_articulo=5418&idioma=en

  15. tru blu says:

    this kind of thing simply wont work in australia as the internet here is very poor. wile some are lucky to have 100mb/10mb. curantly i get 100/2mbps but im in the 20% of the population that have speeds abover 20mbps. most australians are only getting around 5mbpb down, and about 256k-1mbps up. and its going to be 10years before our NBN is finished giving 90% of the population 100mbps

    speedtest.net states the avg connection in aust as just 7.8mbps. with overseas server speeds maxing out at about 5-10mbps even if you have a 100mbps HFC or fiber line.

    cloud computing wont happen in australia for 6-10 years IMO.

  16. Richard says:

    I agree, clouds suck! That is they will suck money from our pockets. It is amazing how many people are buying into the marketing hype.

    I posted my own top ten reason why clouds are a bad it. I'm curious about your comments on my top 10 reasons.

    My blog is found here:

    Part I here…
    http://compunetics.ca/Blog.php?category=2

    Part II here…
    http://compunetics.ca/Blog.php?category=3

    • Fybarra says:

      Thanks! great info. I agree with all your comments. Cloud is not the future but the past with an ill-chosen new name as a marketing gimmick.
      See my post below for what I think the REAL future of computing is going to be.

  17. Paul says:

    To put all your eggs into the cloud is nuts for tons of reasons. These rates are teasier rates to get people into their services. Once you have moved, the rates will go up as well as the charge from you ISP for the bandwith you will need.

    Spammers will lease cloud services and if you get black listed because you shared one of the servers the spammers used, good luck. I have seen this happen twice the past year.

    Small companies with a struggling IT department, this probably makes sence but larger companies, it would be a big mistake.

    You loose your connection to your ISP and your business is down. Anyone who has worked in IT knows this happens no matter what and it's out of your control. At least in house apps, you can still process and communicate. Three days for most companies will flush away years of potentials savings as well as possible lost clients.

  18. Devil's advocat says:

    😈 Is anyone running a Windows OS ? How many "security" patches do you have to apply on a monthly basis ? And someone somewhere thinks the cloud is safe ? I wonder how many enterprises would trust their critical data to servers located in certain countries (where there is political uncertainties), without knowing exactly where it is ?

    • Cole Davis says:

      I disable security patches. The more you put on your computer, as with other complex software, the faster your operation system collapses and you have to start all over again.

      • aanon4cec says:

        fuck what schools say, use Linux. open source is MORE secure not less, your own IT/Software devs can apply the patches that work and make sense and analyze for security holes on your own.

  19. PieGuy says:

    I can see this being a problem for PC users and personal data management, but it seems feasible for big companies where it would just be another bill to pay (ie: resources, electricity, benefits, etc). So i say let businesses take on that new method while leaving consumers to be able to use their PCs in peace; safe from any kind of extraction with just a simple unplugging of the router (or turning off air connection). Though the "service" should be optional and not replace conventional forms of downloading, app use and data storage.

  20. Newt says:

    Considering how inexpensive data storage & processor power are now, in my opinion, there is no excuse nor reason for “cloud” computing. Seriously; the risks FAR outweigh the meager benefits.

    “…when Facebook and Youtube are better designed”? …Dude, FB & YT are *never* going to be “better designed,” because they *don’t have to be.* They have no competition. They have no punishment for failing, nor reward for improving. Facebook’s tech has been utterly static, with an occasional, poorly implemented I might add, feature added here and there roughly bi-quarterly. They *suck* technically, and what’s more, their suck-ness has become the norm, effectively dropping the bar like an anvil.

  21. Ron Lentjes says:

    Mmm. The hype and advertisement sounds so familiar… Like the crap that “CFLs are safe” and “consumer uptake is increasing”. Anyone who can see thru the facade? A new game: Can you spot the lie? Yah, make sure you think it thru and (try) to source the truth. And by the way, I still think the INCANDESCENT is my favourite light. Cheers, Ron Lentjes.

  22. Ron Lentjes says:

    Actually, put all the globes in the cloud and turn them all on. Only problem, if any power outage – we all can’t see! Cheers, Ron Lentjes.

  23. Fybarra says:

    Finally a voice of reason! Allow me to add to your well-thought out list of reasons why I think the so called “cloud” computing is a bad idea.

    1- Most of us know a “cloud” is just another name for a server. The name change reeks of marketing ploy to sell something old under a new name. To all those critics who say you are rejecting the future, this is not the future, it’s the past with a new name.

    2- Computer professionals and nerds may be eager to upload critical and proprietary data to a server, but the last group to be convinced will be corporate owners. That means slow or no sales, no early investment money, closed servers, and early adopters falling off said cloud and landing on their faces.

    3- The future of computing is what I call “personal device kit”. Our personal device kit is all the devices which will become par of our skill set, which make us marketable as employees. As important as actual arms and legs were to the port workers a century ago, and just as personal. Smart companies will parasitically benefit from our individual device kits, storing the work we produce on them into inexpensive hardware.

    4- We will become our own IT department. We will have backup devices as par of our kit. We will use our own Tech support to keep it running. IT professionals will migrate to maintain individual device kits through both the device manufacturers and individual server and software providers.

    5- Corporate trainers will generate corporate materials within their kits and transfer them to their crews over a local network or the cloud. The cloud’s function will become primarily data transfer (maybe we should call it “wind” computing instead).

    6- Software and data products will remain in servers, as they have been for years, nothing new. But the trend will be toward individualizing computing, not uploading everything. Every individual’s kit will include a mass storage device.

    THAT is the future of computing. Personal and business computing will become one and the same. Simple, yet efficient and cost-effective.

    • Eric says:

      Fybarra you couldn’t be more wrong. Any half competent IT professional who doesn’t stand to make a profit from Cloud Computing knows full well how terrible an idea it is.

      Its corporate owners who are the first to get sucked into the idea because of the potential savings from cutting theit IT departments.

  24. Hamad Subani says:

    Google’s cloud-only Chrome OS vision is simply not baked, and it\’s not likely to ever to come together.

    http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/what

  25. Hamad Subani says:

    No Privacy on Amazon’s Cloud Drive

    http://www.infowars.com/no-privacy-on-amazon%e2%8

  26. Hamad Subani says:

    Beware the bait and switch in the public cloud….Google App Engine’s price hikes and VMforce’s quiet death give enterprise cloud developers and CIOs reasons to tread carefully.

    http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/b

  27. RH says:

    👿
    I am a programmer by hobby. I have no desire to make applications that run off the web *cough*cloud*cough*

    I am dead serious, I will not buy another computer if this happens. Those
    who buy in can share the crud by themselves; I will just get a new hobby.

    • armoros says:

      i am with you 100% 👿

    • aanon4cec says:

      dude, don’t get a new hobby. become a black hat and actually do something about it. you don’t have to participate in hacking or corporate espionage/damage… there are other highly necessary semi-opensource fields, such as cracking DRM and security methods with currently available technology to ensure at least a grassroots level of sabotage and civil disobedience

  28. Chris says:

    Spoke to a rep in pc world having a chat who informed me after xmas that pcs will not be sold with hard drives.. Am CCNA trained and trust me this is the worst idea in the history of bad ideas, yeh sounds all fluffy until your internet goes down and you cant even edit a word document because its stored in the cloud, and believe me if your with BT or virgin media this will be a regular occurance… No thanks you can keep you fads ill stick with my HDD thanks…

    • hello says:

      Totally agree with you the new tech world is being stifled by monney grabbing organisations such as applebe proud of what you think and warn and tell everyone about shit thats going on please for me and the rest of the people who are not stupified by controlled media get the word around FAST!!! Otherwise the future of electronical technology will be controlled! but then again these companies are controlled by their needof money as well think about it fellow smart person warrior….just.. think about it!

  29. armoros says:

    Very nice article,i totally agree …

  30. Hamad Subani says:

    Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman….

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/

    • aanon4cec says:

      Stallman is right. the only secure software is open source — because independent corporations can task security and software developers with analyzing the code for holes themselves as a third party

  31. Zippy says:

    One, more problem. Access to your information depends an annual or monthly fee. What happens to your data if you do not pay the bill? Will it still be backed up and will it be available when payment resume? The public cloud does not make sense.

  32. Michael says:

    What about the mobile industry

  33. Dave says:

    With the “Internet Kill Switch” idea running rampant through Congress under the guise of many names in many different bills … you fill in the blanks. The proponents of the “Cloud” seem to forget how incredibly cheap IT hardware is these days and even maintenance costs are quite low as systems are much more reliable than ever. The real costs of IT is in software/database development which big firms STILL have to pay for in-house (just the log into the Cloud and not local machines). With most Cloud systems charging per user/period/bandwidth, you quickly realize there is almost no cost savings once ramped up. You may get rid of some management staff, but you’ve increased your risk and lose a great deal of control. All it takes is 1 breach or outage (recall the great “backhoe incident” in the nineties that took out a chunk of the east coast? Anyone recall the great “Cisco Patch” where thousands of routers simultaneously upgraded their firmware?) to bring down thousands of businesses at once. The Cloud may be robust inside the linked datacenters, but the weakest link is the ISP connection to the business (it goes, your biz goes with it).

  34. Clayton says:

    From an IT professional, you should be aware that the internet is one solar flare away to failure.

  35. ziguzanuzoon says:

    🙁 🙁 cloud is verry bad it Wald be a target of every hacker on earth and if this co. dose what it is trying to do and the hacker’s hit these mainframes there is where the biggest problem lie’s but also no one co. shad ever have that much control and the amount off pp that Wald be out of work is insane so pleas pp fight fight fight don’t foll for this.

  36. Arcadian says:

    Cloud Service is a very very bad idea, all your info out there, on a server, what if you IT guy quits and raid your server on cloud? What then?? I mean its a good thing to have but really its not, Hogging up all the bandwith just to upload all your info to the server. Its doesnt make just an image of the directory its send the whole files and all, if you have 300gb do you know how long it would take to upload 300gb at 30k uipload rate?? its would take several weeks tof insh that if nothing gets corrupted. Well if people want to use cloud keep it down to contact and that it, no picture saving or anything else, CLOUD IS A BAD IDEA!

  37. Jarbz09 says:

    I dont see any good reason to love cloud computing. What i see is you will just save from buying a harddrive.

  38. Archangel says:

    Anyone foolish enough to use cloud technology deserves what happens to him.

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  40. jnhks007 says:

    It’s like giving someone else the key to your house, and then counting on them to always be there to let you in. In addition, their pitch is ‘we’ll never go through your stuff without your permission; we’ll always be there when you need in; you’ll never have to worry about losing your key—we’ll always have it. Trust us.’ How can this sound attractive to anyone?

  41. Samuel says:

    Cloud computing will mean that the consumer will be perpetually paying a fee to use the Cloud service.

  42. Glenn says:

    When I got World of Warcraft I never really played it because it had a monthly fee attached to it after I bought the game. I will not fall for the cloud B.S. For these reasons.
    1) When you’re internet goes down and everything you own is on the cloud, i’ll still be enjoying my entertainment (music, movies, etc.)
    2) When they start charging hefty monthly storage fees after you just bought your product, i’ll still have that CD or whatever I bought for $10 and it will stay at $10.
    3) When their server goes down and you again can’t enjoy your entertainment, i’ll still be enjoying mine. While they are trying to figure out what went wrong.

  43. no brainer says:

    Cloud computing can only be appealing to IDIOTS!! and the corrupt!

  44. Gary Roberts says:

    The internet, once all computing is controlled in the cloud can go in which ever direction the controllers of the internet choose. Americans make a big deal about not giving up their guns. Well giving up your ability to control your on data and computing on your own server completely severs you from control of you data. Corporations can control what is written to the internet. Also, outsourcing is a major issue. Most companies now outsource most of their customer services to other countries to pay lower wages. In the thirties GM and other car manufactures along with oil companies bought up major trolley companies and dismantled them in an effort to force people to rely on privately owned automobiles. That’s the same type of future we will face with computing if everything is moved to the cloud. We have enjoyed a continuous improvement of personal computing over the last decade Processors and hard drives were becoming more powerful and less expensive. That will change as more computing goes to the cloud. There is nothing wrong with some cloud computing, but not at the expense of losing all control of computing.

  45. guest says:

    That tablets are equally being shoved down people’s throats is by no means coincidental – as a matter of fact, they are the flip side of the same coin. Tablets (or ‘phablets’ which will be the result of merging today’s “smart”phones and tablets) are intended to become dumb terminal devices to be used to access data in “the cloud”. Obviously, they will be locked out from low level user access, and rooting/jailbreaking them will be both illegal and largely pointless as they won’t have any local storage besides for the firmware allowing the device to power up and connect to “the cloud”.

    UEFI and IPv6 are not intended to catch on, because they’re far to similar to their BIOS and IPv4 predecessors, in that they were still based on the paradigms of personal computing and a free Internet, which the cloud-and-tablet-pushers are bent on doing away with.

    TL;DR – both the “cloud mania” and the “tablet mania” are collateral parts of a coup by certain parties to ultimately wrestle from people the control of their data, and, by extension, their lives.

  46. People usually migrate over time to what is more convenient and more affordable. The cloud is the same. Just be sure and use it wisely and don’t become dependent on it. Kinda like McDonalds. It’s convenient and affordable – but only an idiot would eat their french fries every day. However they sure are yummy.

  47. Greg CPA says:

    I’m a CPA in the US. I have heard a lot of dumb ideas in my life. Some so dumb they should be framed. Nothing beats cloud for the dumbest idea of all. It truly takes the cake. JumpPuppy your post sounds reasonable but is dangerously naive. If you get on board there will be no getting off. It’s a slippery slope. Soon your OS will be cloud based and all your software. You won’t be able to make the decision for yourself. As for me and my practice. We are actively researching Ubuntu linux as an alternative. The internet is a very valuable resource tool. Like most things mankind has done on this planet it’s being abused and squandered on rubbish in the name of greed and profit.

  48. RicIT says:

    I landed on this site while searching for ‘alternative terms to use for cloud computing’.
    I have read only a portion of the responses and posting collected here. Not sure what to say about all that. It does appear that the negative views balance out the positive opinions about Cloud Computing. Many of the statements I see posted here seem to be from the un-informed or mis-informed part internet users. Then again, there is such a massive amount of bad information out here on the web it is hard to make intelligent opinions without first doing a lot of research.
    That being said, cloud computing is going to happen, has already happened. If for some reason you don’t agree then how would you explain the internet? All the endless resources available around the world on the world wide web. That is the cloud. If you have a server in your home or office that holds data or delivers applications that is the cloud,(private cloud). The cloud is your online banking, hotmail, gmail, yahoo mail and so much more.
    You have been using it for years already it is just now becoming popular for the smaller guys too.
    Well that is my opinion for what it is worth. Thanks for listening.

  49. mekel says:

    I think cloud computing is about choice. You can decide to join it or not. So you should all stop talking and putting fear in people. The fact that everybody decides to use facebook, twitter or what not does not mean I should be forced onto that platform.

  50. Daniel says:

    Let’s be clear here. THEY ARE TRYING TO HAVE EVERYBODY AT THEIR SMALL FINGER !!! IT’S LIKE BUYING SOMETHING BUT WILL STAY TO THE SELLER’S POCKET. YOU MUST BE SO DUMB TO THINK OTHERWISE !! WANNA RULE THE WORLD? THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  51. Greg Stanley says:

    What’s on my computer, stays on my computer unless I want to send it out over the net. For example, I have no interest in “sharing” spreadsheets containing my family’s personal financial records by keeping them on someone else’s server, nor do I have any interest in depending upon someone else’s storage to retrieve my data. Hmmm…don’t concepts like “security” and/or “privacy” ring any bells with any of these cloudmongers…come on…get real…duhhh!

  52. Trapez says:

    When our armed forces such as the Army and Navy and even the NSA and CIA start using Cloud Computing such as Amazon to hold and manage their data then the Cloud may not be a fad.

  53. Scott says:

    Why the hell would anyone want to take their personal data and place all of it on some corporate dipshit’s server? Thats like buying a car and agreeing to leave it parked at the dealership. Screw that.

  54. Norman Falla says:

    How do I get to the cloud if my ISP goes down? How do I know my files aren’t being spied on? What is the maximum amount of hard drive space can you get in the cloud? Is it worth it? I can fit most of my stuff on a few 2TB hard drives that I can carry around and no one but me can see what’s on it.

  55. Bryan Humes says:

    If you’re going to the trouble of dragging your files to a folder linked to the cloud. You may as well drag them to a folder on an external hard drive (or two).

  56. Efjay Dee says:

    And when all these lemmings jump into the cloud, and most computing is done via the cloud, will those corporate cloud datacentres going to become THE targets for enemy states and terrorists? In a cloud based world, a few tactical strikes and select data centres would cripple government, its agencies, destroy the economy instantly and obliterate all cloud based companies and erase the data of billions of users who at that point have nothing more than thin clients. Talk about putting ALL your eggs in one basket.
    Technology is increasingly cheap and more efficient, processors, memory and storage. Nothing is superior to local data and local software, sharing information externally only when necessary, run on a full computer – available at a low cost. Even better is software and operating systems designed to empower the local user and guarantee their freedom. Cloud computing is the thin edge of a dangerous wedge, big data, especially coupled with so-called smart devices are a threat to us all.

  57. Ngoo Nam says:

    Cloud computing is only good if you don’t have confidential information stored on the servers.

    Such as, birthday photos, non-critical emails, your favorite mp3 lists, your favorite politicians’ speeches, your shopping lists, dentist meetings, secret affair meetings, etc.

    Then again they could be confidential, too.

    Of course, if you like to be reckless, go ahead, say cloud computing is good for you and good for everybody else. Go ahead make the hackers’ buffet. Go ahead make the thieves happy. Go ahead make everybody be tempted like Snowden and Manning.

    Go ahead, make their day.

  58. Ngoo Nam says:

    Whoever thought of Cloud computing wanted your information, folks. All of your info.

  59. ExITer001 says:

    The other issue with cloud computing is it will likely eliminate the need for a harddrive on your computer. At least you can create firewalls to try to protect yourself. So, computers will be cheaper or not … they will not need as man components to build. As soon as information is stored on the internet, it’s subject to hacking on a mass level.

    The public again is being led like lambs to the xxx to allow companies access to your data.

    I’ve been sounding the alarm for years and people don’t care (desensitized) or they do but are at a loss in terms of what to do about it.

    Pass on the word that Cloud is a euphemism and is potentially very harmful for the consumer. It exists today and will get more devious as time goes on.

  60. Kyle says:

    🙁 What companies are making PC software now? Walk into Best Buy or Fry’s heck even you’re local Target and compare the PC section of now back to the 1990s and tell the the difference in scope of computer software.

    Hint. There is none now. Hack and Slash action games are even becoming scares where in 2005 they would dominate 2/3rds of the shelf with hidden object and some simulator titles used.

    Heck it is almost impossible to find Hidden object games without requiring being on the cloud to buy them where in 2005 they were found in any department store which I bought several of them.

    Besides software it is neigh impossible to find the actual components including the desktop. Fry’s in 2005 had an ENTIRE section of JUST desktop PC’s and now it’s not even half an aisle.

    It’s all smartphones and tablets that you see and what they have are not usually the best ones for those who are into them.

    In conclusion in 5 years when my and your desktop die there will be no more if you go looking for an upgrade you will only see smartphones and tablets.

    The Industry is moving to very expensive PC’s that are over 2K to 3K dollars like how the Apple was in the 1980s.

    We need another Jack Trammel to bring vision that made the C64. His goal model was to bring ‘Computing Power to the individual’ where the computing industry today is trending on a fast track to the total opposite of his dream.

  61. maria says:

    🙂 😀 😛 :evil

  62. Graham says:

    Cloud computing can and is often private, so you have a private cloud onsite. Its not all about ISP. However I am a performance person and I HATE the cloud. It is yet another way to save money at the cost of performance. Sharing your hardware saves costs and costs are driven down but when you want CPU and it is over committed 5:1 it will get stolen…. also there is another layer of OS so slower performance and another team involved and more complexity and skills required. Lots of hidden costs and hidden performance issues

  63. workispurpose says:

    The cloud promotes corruption, puts control over a person’s personal life, the items he has purchased with his own hard earned money, and flushes the “right to privacy” and his “civil rights”, right down the toilet. Might as well put a GPS and information chip in every American that needs to be scanned before they purchase something. The cloud is like equipping every automobile with On-Star or Low-Jack so they can not only unlock your car when you lost your keys, but can also lock your car so you can’t get in it if the law givers do not like what you are doing. With everything in the cloud with one key stroke they can block you from everything, if you haven’t paid a bill perhaps. Where’s the backup of all my pictures, personal videos, important documents if the sever goes down. All my files and my backups right now are on two 3tb hard drives, and I don’t have to ask permission form someone else to access them either. I have found that transfering files from one device to another is easy and faster than going through all the crap to access my files from the cloud. I hate to say this, and this is the first time I will say this, if you support the could you are too lazy, selectively uneducated, and just plain stupid, and you probable don’t even vote or watch the news and take everything at face value and question nothing. Your nothing more than cattle and sheep following the herd. Look at the wall street corruption, corruption in corporations, in politics, and in the banks. I guess the last 12 years didn’t happen or didn’t mean nothing with Enron, the housing market crash where good people with families lost there homes, the illegal wire tapping and fabricating of evidence by the Bush administration, the illegal activities of most all of the major banks; millionaires buying yachts and houses on the villa with money borrowed from the very same banks into which I put my trust and my money! If I can’t trust my money to some corporation, how am I going to trust a corporation with my computer files in the cloud. And, no one was held accountable as they would have been 50 years ago. Heck we bailed out the banks, arrest a couple of “Fall-Guys” to make it look good, and ignored the rest of it. If I can’t trust the government, mortgage companies, and banks? How the heck do you think I would respond if asked to putting all that I have left personal to me into the cloud. I would answer, vote, advocate, protest, lobby with a big fat, this couldn’t be simpler, NO! Or maybe I should just get more interested in what’s happening in Hollywood and in major sports and be distracted from the issues that are really important and what’s really going on with the shaping of my own life.

  64. Deuser says:

    The cloud is great for a phone or small device.
    It’s unnecessary for a powerful laptop or desktop but should be an option for them, not mandatory.
    If Microsoft doesn’t build freedom into their devices, somebody else will.

  65. Angela says:

    Cloud computing is also the perfect vehicle for the WORST threat to the Internet the world has ever seen.

    Corporate greed.

    Case in point. Just look up Adobe for example and how they trashed a once proud institution of Photoshop users with their hideous “Creative Cloud”.

    If this is the way the NET is heading, I give it another 10-15 years before it’s strictly for corporations and the rich to use.

  66. Wayne says:

    Morning people,

    I just updated my QuickBooks a month ago from Intuit. Every time I use the new QB, QB makes an automatic backup. since I have my own backup system and
    I can not find how to turn QB’s backup off, I had to call QB to find out how to cancel their backup.

    Low and behold!

    I am told by a QB rep that their backup system is cloud based and it cannot be canceled .

    let’s see,
    1. My personal data,
    SS#, financial, cc purchases, what I buy, taxes, ect…..
    2. My business data,
    employees, employees SS#, business income, business customers,
    business purchases, employees income, employees personal data,
    vendors, equipment, taxes, ect…..
    3. My life Info goes on and on, and sooner or later others will have it.

    !!!!!!

    Wayne

  67. Mike Blackburn says:

    Sorry I don’t get It ! obviously there cannot be a problem with handing over control of your data to these cloud guys, trusting your government to protect you and your ISP to connect you – after all they have totally earned our respect for their honesty and integrity, and it can only get cheaper – right ??

  68. Bone Dog says:

    I cannot understand how people have sheepishly swallowed this whole cloud thing, depriving them from almost any control over, or ability to choose theirs products… Corporations in all fields have managed to install a worldwide standard of LEASING stuff, not because it’s more convenient, but because it makes MORE CASH flowing in for them. And also because people do not have the ability to save money anymore, because most people are generally becoming poorer every day.

    Banks, software companies, hardware companies: they want to suck people dry, they see people as objects, tubes through which money should flow — and preferably, in their direction. To them, people are filthy and not worthy of possessing things. We’re just good enough that we can be lent stuff, for a while, against cash. Oh and we don’t deserve to keep our personal information ourselves, either. We need corporations to take care of that too. The cloud the epitomizes that. F**k the cloud. I’m a living, THINKING creature, let me in control!

  69. All Countries will be at the mercy of America during the war situation. Till Sometime back Microsoft was Against Google saying that it is spying the information. but even Microsoft is doing so.. Hence he called back all its campaign against Google.. On premise information is only prone to Hackers.. but cloud Information is prone to more threats. Competitors, Government authorities and anyone who can buy the information..

    I Also Feel that Ransomware are also supported by this large cloud providers like Microsoft and google to scare people for on-premise data and force them to move on to cloud.. Else how is it possible that large IT Companies like them and american government can’t trace these guilties.

    Like some years back microsoft paid Apple to keep the competition alive to grow the business. Today it feels like Large Cloud providors like Microsoft , google , amazon, are all one and they are forcing everyone to put the information on cloud. This information can be then used by american government authorities and other competitors.

    I have been in industry since last 20 years. and I would suggest people to remain On- Premise rather than going on Cloud. This will help them as well as their country.

    • aanon4cec says:

      its because of the paradigm data brokering brought in. Once other companies offered a service for ‘less’, in order to be competitive you either have to do what they do, or charge more and rely on people being educated which wont work. the only solution is to force prices up with constitutional amendments against data brokering in general, and strict limitations of law which mitigate the cost-benefit of the cloud

  70. Due to the hostility of modern admins to the notion of giving customers access to a Cloud ID, the Cloud computing market has simply collapsed.We no longer need Cloud Id, and therefore the whole cloud thing is beginning to fade away. These admins have learned it the hard way that we should not use technologies we are not meant to use.

  71. TheVest says:

    Here’s my issue with cloud computing: cloud-based synch services inevitably have less storage space than your local drives, and cause massive headaches when their software starts removing files from your computer(s) when you exceed the cloud’s capacity.

    Exhibit A: Onedrive.

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    […] 10 reasons why cloud computing is bad idea […]

  5. September 1, 2009

    […] uma vez a Cloud Computing (CC) volta a cena. Durante uma de minhas navegadas pela rede descobri um artigo sobre CC que achei interessante(em inglês). Resolvi traduzir para facilitar o entendimento. Não sei qual o principal objetivo do autor (se […]

  6. November 23, 2009

    […]  The table below indicates online PIM synching that in turn can be synched with Desktop applications (where officially supported by the manufacturer). Please note that with the exception of the Blackberry Enterprise server, online PIM synching is done through unencrypted transfers via the Internet. Cloud computing has its dangers. […]

  7. March 28, 2010

    […] wireless carriers into doing so. In my opinion, Android has yet to grow up. And Android uses the controversial cloud computing model for PIM synchronization with Google’s online […]

  8. January 13, 2011

    […] have some kind of poll for and against, as you mentioned Linux looks more and more attractive. ThisSite gives some valid reasons against cloud apps. Reply With Quote + Reply to […]

  9. October 8, 2011

    […] Apple continues to make computers without a CD drive, thereby forcing me to host all my files on a cloud, which I do not like the idea of at all – but even then, Windows will be a tough […]

  10. November 6, 2011

    […] graphic is an addition to one of the more popular articles on this website, Ten Reasons Why Cloud Computing is a Bad Idea. Feel free to use it and reproduce […]

  11. December 2, 2011

    […] storage about as well as they understand how to open e-mail attachments or how Dragons can fly. But here are 10 reasons I might avoid the cloud, if you’re […]

  12. May 14, 2012

    […] https://www.techtangerine.com/2009/06/02/ten-reasons-why-cloud-computing-is-a-bad-idea/ Share this:TwitterEmailLinkedInFacebookMoreStumbleUponRedditTumblrDiggLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. […]

  13. October 16, 2012

    […] Here are some reasons why Cloud Computing is a bad idea, especially in the Indian context: Ten Reasons Why Cloud Computing is a Bad Idea | techtangerine Reply With […]

  14. February 22, 2013

    […] Some technology companies are now even offering “cloud” services. In principle, these cloud services are a great and convenient idea. They allow us to access all our documents and information from a stored database from wherever we are. However, if this database were to get hacked by a group, then all of our information will be violated. Government officials could also access this information, without our consent, by asking the company supporting the cloud services to hand over the information. In some cases, governments do not even need warrants to gain access to the data in the cloud (TechTangerine). […]

  15. April 1, 2013

    […] 3. “Cloud computing makes your IT excessively dependent on the Internet.” — Tech Tangerine […]

  16. May 7, 2013

    […] he’s right, in fact there are many reasons to be concerned at the wider implications of embracing cloud […]

  17. May 14, 2014

    […] Ten Reasons Why Cloud Computing is a Bad Idea (TechTangerine.com) […]

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