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On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 2:04 PM, Roland Tarver
<roland.tarver@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 1:14 PM, Simon Waters <simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On 12/05/11 11:51, Roland Tarver wrote:
>>>
>>> It all sounds lovely, but - everything in "the cloud" :-s ??? Really?
>>> Although I have no evidence or experience to prove it (except the
>>> recent amazon outage) I just don't have a good gut "feeling" about all
>>> my data (or mums, etc) in "the cloud"? Do you? Do others?
>>
>> The recent Amazon outage didn't lose data (or at least only very recent
>> or volatile data) as far as I am aware.
>
> I think the main business impact was not being able to access their
> data for several days. I think this had several cost implications and
> loss of business etc.
>
>> Gut feelings are the wrong approach, but the answer is likely to be
>> provider dependent.
>
> Perhaps, but not necessarily. Intuition ("gut feeling") is often based
> on cumulative experience in a similar field and has been shown to
> produce accurate results.
>
> However, I am not for one second suggesting that an evaluation of
> "cloud" computing be based on intuition! lol!
>
>
>> There is a reasonable question of whether you can back-up your data, and
>> if you can, whether that data is useful should the current provider fail
>> in some way (including refusing future business from yourself).
>>
>> For the average user the question is "is the reliability good enough",
>> and in most cases I suspect the answer is "yes". Many users don't
>> back-up data regularly and those that do often do it poorly or
>> infrequently so outsourcing is a win for them.
>
> That's a fair point.
>
>> I think part of this is irrational fear of loss of control, I think of
>> this as the "illusion of control", but there is a rather more specific
>> concept in psychology with that name already. We much prefer things to
>> be in our control, such as driving cars, even when the evidence suggests
>> this is not the safest approach.
>
> I think I probably trust the hardware with my data. What I am more
> reluctant to trust is the human element. Companies go bust. Change
> their terms and conditions (or subject you to them in the first
> place)....etc?
>
>
>> There are new risks with outsourcing data storage, it is easier for law
>> enforcement to get their hands on it for example. But our fear of these
>> risks are probably disproportionate (unless there is good reason law
>> enforcement at likely to care about you - but if you aren't Assange, and
>> you aren't a habitual criminal...).
>>
>> Sure the set of risks change somewhat, but some risks are reduced; for
>> example data centres are often located in geologically stable areas with
>> low flood risk - not a big issue in Devon and Cornwall, but there are
>> probably plenty of folks in the world whose houses are at much more risk
>> than these strategically located data centres. Strangely not all data
>> centres are so located - but as I said the answer may well be provider
>> dependent. Similarly data centres are probably safer from a whole range
>> of other issues like theft, toddlers etc.
>
> Agreed. So too, I am sure, would the the people of Japan and
> Christchurch (etc)! I guess this a significant benefit.
>
>> Because the back-up schedule is in our control we are happier, even if
>> our own habits in the area are erratic and unpredictable, where as if
>> the cloud owner has some boring methodical procedure carried out by
>> robots each day it is probably best to leave it to them.
>
> Probably. Especially for "typical" (non-IT savvy) users. But there is
> still a human, who is not me, controlling the cloud and my data?
> Surely it is not just machines efficiently carrying out tasks? hmmm.
> Not convinced. lol.
>
> Does anyone currently keep all their documents on-line? Do cloud
> service provides make it easy for you to (r)sync your data with a
> local copy? I would feel (remember intuition :-p) happier about it
> then....lol.....
>
> Best wishes
> roly :-)
>
http://url.drogon.net/q (thanks Gordon :-))
Just came across the above.
roly :-)
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