There's no doubt about it; more and more people and services are moving to the cloud for their computing needs. Cloud storage services such as Microsoft's SkyDrive, Google's Google Drive, Apple's iCloud and Dropbox are being used more and more. Cloud-based streaming services like Netflix and OnLive are gaining more customers.
Yet, we have seen cloud-based systems also experience failures that can leave customers without service for hours. The most recent example is an outage in Europe that shut down Microsoft's Windows Azure data servers for over two hours. There's also the question of who controls content that's uploaded to the cloud.
It's a trend that doesn't sit well with the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak. News.com reports that The Woz stated his views this week in a Q&A with audience members after a performance of Mike Daisey's one man show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs in Washington.
When asked about cloud computing, Wozniak stated, "I really worry about everything going to the cloud. I think it's going to be horrendous. I think there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years."
Wozniak seems to be most concerned about a person not being able to own digital content in this new cloud universe. He said, "With the cloud, you don't own anything. You already signed it away," He added, "The more we transfer everything onto the web, onto the cloud, the less we're going to have control over it."
It's certainly a concern that others share. If all of a person's digital content is stored on a cloud server, companies that store it have access to that information. If that server fails or is shut down, a person may not have a way to get that content back. Just ask Kyle Goodwin, who has been trying in vain to get his legally uploaded high school sports videos back from the servers of the still shut down MegaUpload site.
Source: News.com
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