I agree. While I use some cloud applications, like Remember The Milk and Evernote, I’m not very comfortable with putting my whole life in the hands of online providers.
And the idea that these are going to replace my desktop is laughable even though folks keep telling us they will. My guess is those are the same folks who thought the netbook was going to be a failure and a short lived fad.
My desktop has been replaced alright- I only use laptops, and specifically, tablet-laptops.
Portable computers are made with better quality standards and greater reliability, than desktops.
That said, I agree about cloud computing: No one in their right mind wants personal information at the hands of anonymous internet handlers.
I’ve never really understood what the “Cloud” is. I’ve seen it referred to in technical documents, but no real definition was provided. And I’ve not been interested enough to look further.
I backup my laptop onto an external hard drive. I have an old Dell tower that suits me for simple applications like music transfer. I’m going to buy my wife a notebook soon because she’s advancing in her job and needs something (She’s held off as long as she could from the computer scene..). That’s all I need. And, no, I’ll not let my information into the hands of online providers; regardless of how inane it is.
What else can be done with this technology. I recently attended an Amazon cloud event. The event had a few exhibitors, one which offered the service of turning on virtual machines to simulate real world load stress testing for your web application. I also had the chance to speak with Seth with Last Legion Games. They use cloud computing to expand and contract 3D graphics processing power needed to handle usage spikes for their online games.