Before I get into my 10 reasons we aren’t ready for cloud computing, almost everyone has a different opinion on what it is.
Some companies, have told me that cloud computing is accessing your files from any network regardless if it is an internal network or not. Others have said it has to be an external network, and then there are those who talk gibberish when talking about clouds.
What the cloud is to me? It’s the network we access websites, applications, email and files from. This website/blog is hosted in the cloud, that email you read or are about to read was sent through the cloud. The cloud has always been there, but we called it a network. But because “NETWORK” doesn’t sound cool some marketing folks came up with “The Cloud”.
But “The Cloud” in the past year has become more generalized and it means, an off site networked location you can store your files and access applications from.
So what are the 10 reasons why we aren’t ready for the cloud?
Reason 10 and the biggest reason: We currently don’t have the infrastructure for it. Until everyone, even those of you in the middle of no where, in the central part of the US OF A, has FIOS type speeds that are constant we as consumers won’t be ready. Companies aren’t ready either until they can guarantee near 100% uptime. Yes that is more than 99.9999999999%. No one should ever notice any downtime, especially if they are paying a premium for it.
Besides me is anyone else tired of seeing the word buffering while watching movies online?
Reason 9: There needs to be regulations in place to protect the consumer, in the event a cloud storage company goes bankrupt, or is raided by government officials. We need assurances that in the event a company goes bankrupt, we are able to gain access to our files within a reasonable amount of time, and if the government raids a cloud storage company because some A-Hole is doing something illegal, people who have files on that server that are not part of the probe should be able to get their files in a timely manner.
Reason 8: Pricing, needs to come down a bit and be less confusing. I’m talking to you amazon. Sure services like Dropbox exist and and offer free storage but, people are going to need a lot more than what the free version of Dropbox offers.
Reason 7:Along with having the government put regulations in place to protect our data, they also need to force companies like Dropbox to make sure our content is secure and our privacy is protected. I mentioned Dropbox because they were the ones who pretty much removed the requirement for a password a few months back.
Reason 6: Cloud Storage companies need to cater to every device. If companies want us to use their service, they should support every platform. If I have a PC an iPhone, a Android based Tablet and a Blackberry for work. There should be an app for every single device and or the ability to access my files via a web browser from those devices that don’t have a dedicated app. Some of these services have apps for all but one device, and that one lone device can’t view their website properly.
Reason 5: There isn’t internet everywhere. If you are using Apps that are in the cloud, what happens when you are on an airplane with a deadline. Guess it will have to wait for you to land. Sure there is internet available in most airplanes now, but you try to use the web on an international flight, it isn’t happening.
Reason 4: It isn’t easy to share your files that are in the cloud. Sure they try to make it easy but it’s not easy. I’ve tried Dropbox, Box.net, Western Digital products, Seagate Products, I’ve tried pogo plug and Ditto. They aren’t easy, they require too much of a learning curve and most people don’t want to have to earn a college degree in file sharing to share their files.
Reason 3: Most people aren’t comfortable having their private files somewhere that isn’t controlled 100% by them. People are too paranoid and with the security problems some of these cloud storage providers have had, and the privacy policy some have had, do you blame them for being paranoid?
Reason 2: To time consuming, even the ones that automatically backup a folder or folders, it’s just too time consuming to make sure our files are being placed back into the cloud.
Reason 1: The average user just doesn’t understand it, and what they don’t understand they tend to avoid.
Agree or Disagree with me that’s how I see it and that is why I think we are not ready for “The Cloud”.
