I think cloud computing is going to stay, really, it’s just the next logical step in data sharing.

However, I do like to “own” my stuff. Have it on my own hard drive and control what happens with it. I’m not a big fan of doing everything online.

I like Google Docs for instance, but I never used it a lot because I don’t want all my documents to be stored by Google. I want all my documents to be stored by me. I only use it for sharing documents and collaboration. (Two very good reasons for using the Cloud.)

I hope it will get easier to link your own machine “to the cloud” in the future. Essentially like running your own server. Once that happens people can simply add items to the cloud by having the files on a designated part of their hard drive.

Then we just need a way to index files and data shared in this new and flexible cloud. Probably the hardest part.

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.

@SpeedoJoe Your own computer won’t be that reliable. The network is already plenty stable enough. I have about two days downtime on my broadband a year. My computers don’t even come close to that much reliability.

I’m jealous Kroc, it’s not weird for me to miss a couple of hours each month. Now that winter is starting being without internet one day a month isn’t exceptional.

I had friends who still were stuck to phone-line speeds due to living 8km (if not a little less) from the city. They were very annoyed with many cloud services.

Many people developing those services are located in cities and countries with good connections. But they target “all people”. There’s a small conflict there.

@theraje try disabling JavaScript for that page and see if the search box reverts to RESTful. Also consider e-mailing the company to explain the problem.

If web apps were hosted inside your router for e-mail / documents / RSS &c. then access would be instant locally, whilst at the same time sharing the data seamlessly across computers and allowing for remote access to that same data.