Cloud-based services like the upcoming iCloud that Apple icon Steve Jobs is going to announce this morning sound dreamy. I mean, just hear that word — “cloud” — and it sounds heavenly, right?
Not to me. I have always had plenty of worries about such services that store your digital information on some faraway server that’s run by a mega-corporation.
At 11 a.m. today, Apple’s chief executive will take the stage for the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where he will deliver his keynote address. He’s expected to talk about three things: the new version of OSX for Macs, the new iOS 5 operating system for devices and iCloud.
The most anticipated of the three is iCloud, which is expected to be a cloud-based storage service where presumably you will be able to store your digital stuff on an Apple server for some kind of fee. It likely will also include some kind of music and video service where you can stream songs and movies straight from Apple’s server to your computer or portable device.
While it may sound convenient to have someone like Apple store your digital wares for you, consider the problems that can be associated with them, too.
Ownership » I’m the kind of guy who likes to possess my music and movies, which is why I like physical media. But on cloud-based services, the digital bits are stored on company servers. You don’t own the music, you own the license to play it, and the only proof you have that you own anything you store on the server is what the company has on record. But that can be a problem.
For example, I once lost my music when I reformatted my PC hard drive and forgot to back up my iTunes library. So I figured I could just download the music again from iTunes without having to pay for it because Apple would have a record of it. Not so. For some reason, Apple didn’t think I bought the music before, and I had to call tech support and convince them otherwise so I could download it again.
Reliability » Will Apple’s servers handle the load? Amazon’s couldn’t when they sold Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” for 99 cents last month. All those people buying the album at the same time brought the servers down, and my digital copy (I bought it for my daughter, thank you very much) didn’t arrive in my Amazon cloud storage until 12 hours later.
Security » I’d like to think that whatever I store in the cloud will be secure and safe from hackers. Sony thought so. Then hackers attacked the PlayStation Network, causing it to shut down for more than a month and possibly compromising countless credit card accounts. The lesson here is that we can’t even trust one of the biggest technology companies in the world to keep our digital files safe and secure.
Privacy » Another cloud service, Dropbox, got into some controversy last month when a security researcher claimed Dropbox employees could actually access the contents of people’s digital files on the service. So it makes you wonder if any company running a digital storage system could peer into your files, or if it would gladly let the government look at them.
Not to me. I have always had plenty of worries about such services that store your digital information on some faraway server that’s run by a mega-corporation.
At 11 a.m. today, Apple’s chief executive will take the stage for the annual Worldwide Developers Conference, where he will deliver his keynote address. He’s expected to talk about three things: the new version of OSX for Macs, the new iOS 5 operating system for devices and iCloud.
The most anticipated of the three is iCloud, which is expected to be a cloud-based storage service where presumably you will be able to store your digital stuff on an Apple server for some kind of fee. It likely will also include some kind of music and video service where you can stream songs and movies straight from Apple’s server to your computer or portable device.
While it may sound convenient to have someone like Apple store your digital wares for you, consider the problems that can be associated with them, too.
Ownership » I’m the kind of guy who likes to possess my music and movies, which is why I like physical media. But on cloud-based services, the digital bits are stored on company servers. You don’t own the music, you own the license to play it, and the only proof you have that you own anything you store on the server is what the company has on record. But that can be a problem.
For example, I once lost my music when I reformatted my PC hard drive and forgot to back up my iTunes library. So I figured I could just download the music again from iTunes without having to pay for it because Apple would have a record of it. Not so. For some reason, Apple didn’t think I bought the music before, and I had to call tech support and convince them otherwise so I could download it again.
Security » I’d like to think that whatever I store in the cloud will be secure and safe from hackers. Sony thought so. Then hackers attacked the PlayStation Network, causing it to shut down for more than a month and possibly compromising countless credit card accounts. The lesson here is that we can’t even trust one of the biggest technology companies in the world to keep our digital files safe and secure.
Privacy » Another cloud service, Dropbox, got into some controversy last month when a security researcher claimed Dropbox employees could actually access the contents of people’s digital files on the service. So it makes you wonder if any company running a digital storage system could peer into your files, or if it would gladly let the government look at them.
