Don't be afraid of the Cloud
I’ve seen this sort of thing before but I’m afraid it doesn’t hold much traction with me. One would be forgiven for thinking Richard Stallman doesn’t really understand what cloud computing is (Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman).
He does understand it of course, but he’s just pretending he doesn’t to make a point. What he is actually cross about isn’t cloud computing in itself. He’s cross about the centralisation and monopolisation of computer technology property.
…
Whenever I read a sentence like “The 55-year-old New Yorker said that computer users should be keen to keep their information in their own hands, rather than hand it over to a third party,” I tend to think someone is being rather paranoid. This is a man who according to Wikipedia “recommends not owning a mobile phone, as he believes the tracking of cell phones creates harmful privacy issues.”
Finally, if these companies do start charging or increasing prices because they think we’re locked in ther will always be an alternative. I’ll just jump ship.
I think maybe it is time to start leaving the web to people who grew up not knowing what it was like not to be able send information freely around the world. Clay Shirky explains that the people in the class he teaches never get older (they move on). They can extrapolate down from 500 TV channels to 5, they understand the concepts of broadcast media. What they (i.e. we, by which I mean Sam and me) have trouble with is the idea that we can’t publish whatever we want. Working in the cloud is here to stay. We are not scared of Big Brother. We are scared of old men who think dangerous thoughts.
