General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA simple explaination and history so you will know what "The Cloud" is.
First off keep in mind that in computer years, dogs are close to immortal.
In the early days of the internet, when too many people tried to go to the same web page it became impossible to get a functional connection to that web page. This may sound exactly like how it is today, but at that time the number of people that could still connect might have been eight instead of eight hundred or eight thousand.
Someone figured out that if they had multiple computers set up with the same content, and directed some people to one computer and other people to another, more people could connect to the "same" website.
This also made the website more reliable. If one computer with the web page went down, then the web page system could still direct you to another computer with the website on it.
As data started getting really big, it started being stored on multiple computers. So imagine that when you make a request, a computer that knows where the information is, can then send you to the right place or fetch that data for you from the right place. If they store data more than one time, it becomes easier for multiple computers to access it and it also protects that data in case one of the computers goes down.
So "The Cloud" is a collection of computers, that hold data in multiple copies. It is possible for these computers to be in separate locations further protecting data from being lost or unavailable.
This is wonderful, but it also has some very real issues. One is, that if the system loses your data, or more likely, loses track of where your data is, then you might never get it, despite it still existing. Someone can probably get it, but unless you are that system operators girl friend or boss, they probably won't bother.
Also, the more complex a system like this is, the more bosses, techs, engineers, and programmers have access to it. One of them loves golf and his password is "golf" and it is on a sheet of paper taped to the bottom of his keyboard. So your security in a big cloud will never be all that great.
Now keep in mind that dogs live longer than the computers that store your stuff on the cloud. All of those computers are getting cranky and the software is getting dated and we all know how fun it is when they update your computer. Imagine how fun it is when they update a range of computers with various software. Now imagine that there is a manager out there that thinks the old computers are fine and if they keep using them without replacing them a bit longer, they will save money. That is what the cloud is.
orleans
(34,084 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,227 posts).
If you run cloud storage in the back-end of a secured data center your fine.
Once that's placed where outsiders can access the data, information breeches are expected.
A lot of people tout cloud as some kind of super tech storage system, but it really is another variant rife for hacking.
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Ms. Toad
(34,117 posts)That's the primary reason I don't store my student data (or client data, when I was in active practice) in the cloud.
FuzzyRabbit
(1,970 posts)You know, the series of tubes that Ted Stevens told us about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)CloudWatcher
(1,851 posts)This is exactly what I've been telling people for years.
In theory, a cloud environment could be more reliable than something you own. In practice, the cloud computers are often opaque and you have no idea if they are really reliable, or being backed up, or being duplicated and sent off to headquarters in China.
Oh, and think a cloud computer is infallible? Just ask the customers of Megaupload.com who lost their data when the servers were confiscated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaupload
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)eppur_se_muova
(36,305 posts)Kind of how I feel about having my data spread all over 'The Cloud'.
planetc
(7,845 posts)lastlib
(23,322 posts)...takes on new meaning in the digital age...............
Mossfern
(2,570 posts)I make hard copies of important things.
(recovering Luddite here)
Can't help it - I prefer paper.
I do email stuff like important spread sheets to myself after I update them....
but then again, that can get lost in the universe.