Linux: “The Cloud”, Tablets, Desktop PCs and Control

Will this “Linux on the cloud” thing with Google, et al take wing and soar like an Eagle or is it just another Dodo Bird, destined for the dustbin of time? For general personal use I think it is going to be a Dodo … or at least be rare, like a California Condor.

I like having control over my “stuff”, it is one of my defining traits. Having control over my total computing experience is one of the reasons I gravitate toward FOSS and Linux. I can decide what I want to do with my own digital life and do not have to answer to any DRM maven or follow some TOS/TOU for my personal system usage. I have a full-sized desktop tower system custom built by my own hands using commodity parts. It has a large monitor for my aging, 50+ year old eyes. It runs whatever FOSS operating system I choose to run (For now that is Mandriva Linux). I have a used Compaq laptop that originally came with some other operating system when I bought it off of a client. That laptop is now also running Mandriva Linux. The old Dell PC beside my desk is now a Linux firewall / router for my SOHO LAN. If I need to access a document on my SOHO PC from some other location I have the ability to do so using remote access over the internet from my laptop through my own firewall that I control. Or I can carry said docs on a USB flash drive with my laptop and access them that way. See a trend here?

On the other hand, the tablet PC systems I see so far are limited to control by some folks other than myself. You see, for now these are closed consumer devices that do not allow me to install or choose my own operating system and only work best when connected to “the cloud”. The tablets by Apple come with all the restrictions that come with any Apple system, only worse in this case. The tablets from Google are at least supposed to use an open source operating system. But still, Google’s dedication to “cloud computing” puts their tablet in a questionable light as far as control over “my stuff” is concerned. At least with a laptop, notebook or netbook PC I can still have a local disk installed with my operating system of choice, a complete set of productivity applications installed and full control over my own data. No access to the ‘net? That is no problem with a device with local storage where I can keep my data and work on it with locally installed applications.

I am not an “average PC user” by any stretch of the imagination but I am likely not much different from Mr. or Mrs. Average User when it comes to control of personal data and computer usage. The idea that I would store my “stuff” on a “cloud” somewhere, a “cloud” under someone else’s control, gives me the heebie-jeebies. After all, the social networks like Facebook are basically “cloud” resources. We have seen how such sites have problems respecting an end-user’s privacy and rights. This could happen with any “cloud” based service. There is no magic online name that will keep a service from ever exploiting end-user’s stuff. We should not ask for governments to step in either. That is just asking for worse remote control over our “stuff” than what the entrepreneurs of the “cloud” have already. What do we do? I recommend strictly limiting use of publicly accessible cloud resources and continuing to rely on one’s own resources to keep up with one’s own data.

While “cloud” resources like Google Docs are an interesting idea and useful in some sense, I do not intend to trust them with my important data. In actuality I would only use them under protest if a client insisted on it. I can see a use for setting up a personal “cloud” since I have basically done so by giving myself remote access to my SOHO systems. I can see the benefit to a company setting up a private “cloud” for sharing documents and data company-wide and/or with clients. I do not see a big benefit to public clouds harking back to the days of the mainframe where everyone used a “dumb terminal” that only had access to data when connected to the mainframe. That is where I see tablet computing heading and I am not interested in that.

What I will continue to do is keep using a complete, full-sized desktop PC at my SOHO and carry a laptop or notebook or netbook for use when I am out and about. I suspect the majority of PC end-users will want to do the same. Feel free to share your thoughts on “cloud computing” or point out where I have it wrong in a comment below.

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