Disclosure: As one who recommends, consults, releases products for, and technically lives in the “Cloud” – a nice way of describing software that doesn’t live on your computer but rather “out there” – I have a clear interest in its success. Additionally, I just like a balanced perspective so others can be well informed and make educated, responsible decisions.
Enter Lockergnome’s piece today titled, Five Reasons Not to Trust the Cloud in which Chris or one of his trusty minions lays out these five reasons:
- Companies Come and Go
- Security is Never 100% Guaranteed
- Cloud Services Aren’t Immune to Hardware Failure
- Local Connectivity is Required
- Bandwidth Caps Imposed by Internet Service Providers
- The focus seems to be on Cloud-exclusive rather than Cloud-enhancedNot having access to your files in the cloud would mean that you don’t have the local copy the cloud version is based on in cloud services like Dropbox.com or Carbonite.com or that you don’t use the free offline services for accessing your Google Docs or Gmail. I don’t know very many people using “Chrome-boxes”, Google’s new Chrome based tablet with only a connected OS and even if they were prevalent, users would likely not have it as their main PC to meet the deadlines he speaks of.
The key aspect he rightly highlights is the need to be pessimistic about your technology choices and not rely on any single technology, cloud based or not, as all are subject to very similar challenges although the virtualization in the cloud (i.e. a thousand hard drives with your data on them in case one fails) is hard to match on your local PC or server.
- Analog pitfalls exist for non-Cloud options but are omittedTake the second point for example, is security guaranteed with any software? How about your local machine at home that can be hoisted and walked out the door in 2.5 minutes. He actually resolves the issue at the end of the section by simply recommending encryption prior to upload.
Many people overlook the risks they are already tolerating simply because it has become normal. Having no password to login to your PC and having a cleaning crew or after hours employees is common. Keeping files locally without a regular backup and verification procedure is common. What about when your proprietary, “doesn’t-play-well-with-others” software vendor buckles under the cost of physical distribution and 10+ operating systems to support, any guarantee that will keep working when it can’t authenticate your license credentials any longer?
- Few examples are given to type the use cases involvedPeople use the cloud for many different things and in very different ways. Some seek cloud based options as their first choice where others look at it only when they can’t find an alternative. Given this diversity, having examples that illustrate each of the reasons as well as the type of user in each would be helpful to help make a more educated decision and avoid the hype on both sides.
- Cloud apps often extend, compliment, archive, or otherwise make local files safer (i.e. Dropbox, Carbonite, Gmail).
- Cloud apps provide more value more often more easily than installed apps.
- Cloud apps can endure regional power outages, connectivity outages, and a terrorist attack – oh, and hard drive outages too!
- Cloud apps enable you to test, trial, or use ongoing for free to simplify your evaluation and wise decisions.
- Cloud apps are accessible from any connected computer.
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