First we should say that the "cloud" is just another buzzword in a long list of buzzwords.

On demand -> SOA -> SaaS -> web 2.0 -> Cloud computing. Same technology we've had for 15 years (and more before 'the web'), new buzzwords.

This will both help computing and hinder it. Above all the "zero-install" nature of web pages will help consumers who have had to battle with _far_ too much crap with traditional software installs. Installing software in the future will be no more complicated than bookmarking it.

The downside is that the push for this network-orientated application infrastructure threatens a great number of freedoms that we enjoy at this time because the infrastructure is being built on a centralised company-controlled basis.

Where is the decentralisation of this data-storage architecture? We, the people, stuck it to the centralised music industry with the creation of decentralised P2P software.

Why, to have remote access to my own data, must I entrust that data to a company? Why is my own computer at home not adequate enriched with the right software to make remote access to my data through web apps, under my own terms? Self-hosted web apps should be the norm.

I imagine that there needs to be a new software product and new types of hardware that bring cloud computing to the individual in an easy way. A software product that provides webmail, RSS, documents and all kinds of web apps hosted at home, and an optional router / HDD hardware product that integrates the software with an all-in-one router so that it's all zero-config. I call this concept "Sanctuary" and I plan to write about it in the future.