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    The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

    Steven Jobs returned from sick leave for only the second time since last January to hype Apple's new "iCloud".

    "Cloud" computing is not new.

    For those unfamiliar with the concept there are several modes of computing:
    1) Applications and data are stored on the user's local hard drive. If the applications are commercial they have to be installed either via a CD or DVD, or downloaded from a remote repository. This is the most common form of computer use among home users. The IRS requires this mode of operation when employees of state governments are sent IRS data. The computer has to remain in a physically secured location and access is strictly controlled and monitored, with complete logs being maintained. (Despite these measures most illegal access to IRS data is by IRS employees themselves.)

    2) Applications are stored on the user's hard drive but the data is on a remote server. This is the "client-server" method of computing. This is/was a common form of corporate computing when tools like Visual Basic and Visual FoxPro were used to create in-house applications or commercial applications were purchased and deployed. This form is almost like cloud computing in that the data is stored remotely, but the remote server is usually on some node of the corporate network somewhere in the world.

    There is a problem with distributing commercial applications via CD or DVD, or even by downloading. Previously installed versions often need to have security holes closed and bugs patched. To do this it was common for CD/DVDs containing replacement binaries to be mailed out to registered users. This often caused support problems because the software to replace the old binary with the new often had bugs, or didn't properly interpret every user's environment. This can sometimes be a problem on some hardware and some application configurations when replacement applications are installed from remote repositories using what is called "automatic updates". The need to have a regular stream of updates sent to the customer/consumer creates a big hole in the profit margins of proprietary software houses. How to eliminate this need?

    3) Enter the cloud. Rather than sending out updates to hundreds of thousands (or millions of users) corporations decided it would be better for their bottom line if they put the application binary on a much fewer number of remote servers along with the user's data. The big difference is that the application is modified/converted/rewritten to run in a web browser or as an applet or script called from a browser. In a pure cloud environment a local hard drive is not necessary. This is a good deal for people on the road a lot who still need access to corporate or personal data.. The down side for corporate data is that cloud servers may follow the computer down the commodity curve to the cheapest provider, which would always be IT centers manned by the lowest paid workers on earth living in what are usually 3rd world or dictatorships. Imagine that, your corporate data and the applications to access it setting on physical servers in China, where the government controls and even owns the corporations. Your corporation is competing against a corporation in China? And you wonder why they seem to always second guess your strategic steps, even before you announce them or put them into play?

    The corporations pushing clouds have other plans, as well. The user's data can be stored in a proprietary format with no exporting capability provided. While many times cloud computing is offered for free in the beginning, once the user is "hooked" (has too much data stored on the cloud servers with no way to get it off) then the data storage payments begin. Stop paying and your data is lost for ever. After a while an access fee can or will be charged for using the application. In other words, one has to continually pay to access their own data.

    Do you need to have remote access to your data because it is more than what can be held in your laptop's 500GB or the 1TB USB external drive you carry around with your laptop? Or, you want to carry a netbook with 8 hours battery life because it doesn't have an HD but you need to access and/or store data? Or, you want to be able to stream video from your smartphone live, and keep it even if some cop snatches your smartphone from you and stomps on it to prevent you from recording his actions? The answer is simple. Just purchase your own domain name and contract with a hosting service. Just make sure the service you purchase is running Linux and has its servers inside the boarders of the US or Canada. Your own Internet server becomes your own cloud. Be sure to modify robot.txt to disallow any well-behaving spiders, like Google's, from mapping your site. This won't stop bad spiders from doing so, however, so don't give away any file hierarchy details in robot.txt. That, plus a good firewall, ssh and strong passwords. If you use it just for data you'll have to keep your applications on your local hard drive, but that's what you've been doing all along.
    "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
    – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

    #2
    Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

    I agree with your post completely GG.

    Two items, of which I have personal knowledge, that might be of interest to people:

    a) I, personally, along with my lab assistant, who had NO CLUE, about doing a "database" or doing a database "in the cloud", produced a proof of concept equipment/chemical/whatever for the biology laboratories at my campus which was done in "google docs". I then carried out a proof of concept "transfer of materials" between two campuses using the "Instant Message" feature of Gmail, that works in Google Docs also.

    And.. very importantly, when I changed the listing of the item(s) on my "side" of the cloud..... the other person saw it in real time update on his "side" of the cloud. We could then CONFIRM to each other, using the IM feature, that the changes had, indeed, been recorded in the cloud and thereby on both machines.

    Indeed the "cloud" does work, and as you indicated; with Google Docs it is "free". And, if one gets very large Google has a paid option also.

    The "complaint" that people have who are SCARED THAT THEIR A## might hang out on something like this is: "what if it gets hacked and the hacker changes the information".

    The answer....is waaaayyyyyy tooo simple.....and they just can't comprehend it.

    And that is:......the work is done "on" a local computer and one merely backs it up each time that one works with the document on the cloud and also encrypts the document so even if "the hacker" gets into the cloud document ALL stakeholders have a copy that is not more than one "change" behind the person who made the change.

    But, it is hard for people to take the risk...

    b) I was off the net for three days back during the big snow storm. If EVERYTHING is on the cloud then one has nothing to work with locally.....so one has to be religious about keeping the local machine(s) current with the cloud.

    GREAT POST GG...

    woodsmoke

    Comment


      #3
      Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

      I agree the cloud is propaganda. Everything will be great if you just surrender all of your information. Now you will be beholden to a company to store your data and to another company (telcom) to deliver your data. Where do I sign up. :P Mobility is a need for a certain amount of people and business, but you watch, the whole computer ecosystem will get morphed into this monthly computer bill. No thanks.

      Web applications remind me of semi's driving down dirt roads. Yeah it can work, but it just wasn't meant for it.

      I would like to see some creative uses of the usb drives. Maybe with:
      A data partition and having bluetooth capability to sync to phone or other device without usb.
      Boot partition for when you are at a pc environment with usb boot support.
      A shared parition and having wireless network.

      Something maybe the size of a smart phone but without the telcom baggage. I like the idea of me having my data. It creeps me out when websites or strangers know things about me.
      FKA: tanderson

      Comment


        #4
        Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

        i NEVER trust others w/ my data. Always have a backup. as for this "cloud" buissness, i have a cloud i keep it in my closet its called a server. it does everthing i could ask for if i ever find it lacking then repo is my friend as there are more server things there then i will ever need. so you two can have your own cloud all you need is a computer to host and a router that can maps ports. your only limited by your bandwith on the server in terms of speed, but for what i need i have plunty of bandwith for these tasks. i really don't get this push for cloud computing that everyone it talking about. i might be little old fashion but when i hear the term "cloud computing" i think more of a group of comptuters working on solving a hard problem , then something like google documents.
        Mark Your Solved Issues [SOLVED]
        (top of thread: thread tools)

        Comment


          #5
          Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

          Originally posted by woodsmoke
          ....
          I was off the net for three days back during the big snow storm. If EVERYTHING is on the cloud then one has nothing to work with locally.....so one has to be religious about keeping the local machine(s) current with the cloud.
          ....
          Drats, Woodsmoke, I KNEW there was something important I forgot to mention, but I just couldn't remember it. Thanks!

          Right. "Clouds" won't do you any good if you don't have an Internet connection.

          The same is true for LANs and WLANs. That was made so obvious while we were running Netware at work and it wasn't configured right. About two or three times a week I could guarantee that I had a couple hours off during the day because the network, running Netware, went down. The big honchos finely wised up and dumped the IT pretender and paid for a professional network admin to come in for 6 months. Within a month he had completely rewired the 500 workstation network, updated switches and routers and purchased decent admin software. He also trained the new IT guy. After that the LAN was stable as a rock and fast as lightening. When the new gov adopted a "Microsoft shop" the Netware was replaced with Windows servers and Active Directory. I got to experience about 6 months of that beast.
          "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
          – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

            Originally posted by sithlord48
            ....
            i really don't get this push for cloud computing that everyone it talking about
            ....
            IMO, it's SOLE driving force are corporations who see it as a way to cut deployment costs to the bone while creating an revenue opportunity charging, eventually, to keep user data on the cloud server with the applications.

            My "cloud" is in my pocket. I keep about half a dozen large USB sticks in my pocket. Two are LiveUSBs of the latest Kubuntu release. Three or four are 16GB sticks containing backups of my data. They are formatted with EXT4, which Windows can't read and the vast majority of Windows users don't know how to install an EXT4 reader, or that such a beast exists. So even if I lose one more than likely it will be overwritten when the Windows offers to format the stick.
            "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
            – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

              im not sure if there is an ext4 driver for windows yet. last time i tried only ext2 & 3 worked (i suspose you could use ext4 in ext3 mode.).

              this threads name reminded me of this video
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn-YesqzvNk

              its a bit old and for english you need to turn on the captions.
              Mark Your Solved Issues [SOLVED]
              (top of thread: thread tools)

              Comment


                #8
                Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

                The biggest issue with cloud computing for me is security. Dropbox just got hammered when it was learned employees had access to user encryption keys and I think Carbonite might find themselves in the same boat someday.

                If you lose your token your data cannot be recovered except by someone else with a token - and I think it's intellectually disingenous to believe that you're the only person with a key. If Grandma loses her token and calls Carbonite I'd bet they could recover her files. If that's the case then you're not the only one with a key

                gmail gives me 8gb of storage and I don't store mail in the cloud. I prefer to encrypt my own files and maintain my own token, thankyouverymuch
                we see things not as they are, but as we are.
                -- anais nin

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

                  Originally posted by sithlord48
                  ....
                  this threads name reminded me of this video
                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn-YesqzvNk
                  ...
                  Never saw that before. What a hoot! 8)

                  Last XMas a very dear relative, who shall remain unnamed, gave me a gift. I didn't see the camera pointing at me when I opened it. It was an iPod Touch 4, with 8GB, but no 3G (IOW, not an iPhone). I was stunned. It is not often that grandpa gets a $200 gift. The photo shows me with my jaw resting on my chest, wide eyed. The next photo showed me grinning ear to ear.

                  Initially, full of hope and promise, I downloaded about 60 applications, most free but some costing up to $20 (the symbolic math app "Space Time"). The first thing I noticed is that my fingers are too big to effectively use the virtual keyboard. I have to hold my index finger at an angle so just the "corner" of it hits the right location, which is not exactly on the key I want to hit. Dragon works well but transferring what I say to another app's input text box is painful and many times doesn't work because one inadvertently triggers another copy into the input buffer. I rarely take my laptop with me shopping or out to eat, etc., but the iPod is convenient. I expected a lot of stores to have a free public wireless. In fact, VERY FEW do. I discovered this when I tried to use my iPod at Walmart, to scan a bar code and check on the price of an item from other stores. No wireless.

                  I still keep that iPod in a leather case hooked to my belt and charged up. Not because I use it any more, because I don't. I just don't want to appear unappreciative to the giver. It was a great gift because it didn't cost me anything to realize that I didn't need or want a smartphone and its big service bill. My wife and I will continue to use our two, simple cellphones for $76/mo.

                  With notifications and wireless turned off and no applications running, using the latest iOS, my iPod still burns through a charge in about 3 days. By the time I had gone through all five Angry Bird levels, the Golden Eggs, and then returned to previously conquered levels to see if I could raise a box from 1 or 2 stars to 3 starts, the iPod was getting boring. Without 3G an iPod is just an mp3 player or a game box. I found that if I connect it to my wireless I can listen to one of 42 stations around Lincoln, or the the police and fireman's radio transmissions. But, I have an FM stereo here at home and I rarely listen to radio at all, especially with ear pods.

                  IF the iPod had two flexible and expanding wings, one as a screen about four times bigger and the second as a keypad, also four times bigger, it might be useful. What about carrying a small keyboard with it, like my son does with his big iPad? IF I do that I might as well haul my wife's Acer Aspire One netbook around. At least I can type fairly well on its key pad and the screen is big enough.

                  There is no way for the user to replace the battery on the iPod. It's warranty is for 1 year. As long as the battery shows at least 50% power after a recharge it is NOT eligible for a free battery replacement. IF it is out of warranty then it costs about half the price of a new iPod to replace the battery. When I first got this its battery would hold a charge for one week. According to "Battery Magic" on a full charge I am supposed to get 9 hrs on the Internet, 7 hrs on video playbacks, 40 hours on audio playback, etc..., and 300 hours on standby. That's 12 days!!! The iOS 4.3.3 has never given me 12 days of anything. Angry Birds? 2 .5 hours. Mp3 playing? about 10 hours.

                  So, at six months I am down to about 1/2 power. I don't want to spend $90 to replace the battery, and if you've seen the back of an iPod 4th Gen you know that it would take a very special tool to remove the stainless steel back, or to put it back on. No user serviceable parts inside.

                  When the battery loses enough energy that I can put the iPod away and tell my benefactor that the battery wore out I'll be a happy camper. It's just too much of a pain in the neck to use. Not only that, when I try to use my thumbs they shake so bad I can't hit anything on the screen that I aim for. So, perhaps Steven Jobs didn't make iPods for old men. Wait .... he's an old man ...
                  "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
                  – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

                    Originally posted by GreyGeek
                    Wait .... he's an old man ...
                    An old 'skinny' man.
                    Windows no longer obstructs my view.
                    Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
                    "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

                      I have a personal "cloud" too, A 500GB Seagate exterrnal drive where I keep any data I want to keep. I agree that the cloud, though convenient where you could ideally access your files from anywhere given a connection, can easily be used for evil uses.
                      The unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers. -- Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires (now Pope Francis)

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

                        I too, have an external USB Seagate 500GB Go HDD. Very nice. Just use GParted to delete the partition(s) that come on it and reformat - in my case - to ext4. Works like a champ.
                        Windows no longer obstructs my view.
                        Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
                        "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

                          That's pretty much what I did, except to two NTFS partitions: one for multimedia (ripped from CDs, not illegal stuff), the other for other stuff like a Windows backup image, and a few Linux ISOs.
                          The unjust distribution of goods persists, creating a situation of social sin that cries out to Heaven and limits the possibilities of a fuller life for so many of our brothers. -- Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires (now Pope Francis)

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

                            Originally posted by Snowhog
                            Originally posted by GreyGeek
                            Wait .... he's an old man ...
                            An old 'skinny' man.
                            Yup. Skinny fingers certainly help if you have to use an iPod Touch.
                            "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
                            – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: The "Reality Distortion Field" at work ...

                              You JailBroke that itouch right?

                              Mine is JB and has a KDE4 theme, SSH client/server & VNC client

                              Typing on is a skill; try to place your index finger on the key you want, but don't lift it! The selected letter shows bigger than the rest, just slide your finger until you reach the right letter


                              I still carry my basic Motorolla Quantico cell around...
                              Registered Linux User 545823

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