Google & Samsung To Launch Clouds

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer

You and he are talking about two different things. Gmail allows you to store up to ~7,700 MBs of emails and attachments, but you can't send an attachment that's over 25MB. This is another reason cloud storage is useful - you can share large files with other people easily.

My bad, though it is almost a distinction without a difference; not very useful (Having to break files up in 25m chucks is like...floppy disks!)

I too use dropbox. I even think I was referred by someone here...i guess they got extra storge).

I wouldn't use google cloud storage because I really no longer trust them with my data. I feel it likely they would comb through it looking for ways to sell me something. Their previous 'don't be evil' pseudo-mission statement isn't even something they consider anymore. I suppose the adults are in charge.

Even my gmail account is really just for junk mail.

I don't think yahoo is any better either, but then again, they never claimed to be.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why on Earth would "the government decide to shut their service down"?

Megaupload anyone ??

The few peaple using megauplad for legit stuff where a bit

[cvkemp]

I will always have my local files and I will make the ones of them that I feel comfortable with available on a cloud service. But I will always have my local copies on a server at home.

[BeccaPrice]

someone above asked, who uses Yahoo email anymore - I do. I set it up for a free account years ago, and have all my filters arranged to sort incoming email into files - I follow a number of email lists, and it's easiest to sort each list into its own folder.

The new Yahoo interface is terrible, but the thought of switching to a new email provider gives me the cold shudders. First, I don't like the gmail interface, and second, I really don't want to spend the time re-doing all my filters and learning a new interface.

So, until Yahoo gets more annoying, I'm stuck with it.

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

My bad, though it is almost a distinction without a difference; not very useful (Having to break files up in 25m chucks is like...floppy disks!)

I too use dropbox. I even think I was referred by someone here...i guess they got extra storge).

Mail attachments are not really meant for large file transfers, more for the odd document or photo. Even if google allowed larger sizes, there's no guarantee all the mail servers the email gets routed through would accept that size.

DropBox and other services provide a simpler way to transfer large data between each other. We use DropBox at work to send data to/from clients, saves setting up and running an FTP service plus the syncing is handy for keeping people up to date.

I wouldn't use google cloud storage because I really no longer trust them with my data. I feel it likely they would comb through it looking for ways to sell me something. Their previous 'don't be evil' pseudo-mission statement isn't even something they consider anymore. I suppose the adults are in charge.

Not sure I'd switch from dropbox to gcloud, there'd have to be something really attractive about it to warrant letting google have even more data. The only thing I can think of is if they don't try to save HDD space by working out what files users have in common and instead encrypt everything before you upload to the cloud. That's a feature DropBox doesn't have and that we'd find quite appealing for work.

I feel like google already owns our souls though, we use them for search, youtube, documents and email. The latter two are at least not scanned for advertising purposes as you can disabling that in gapps. We've started to use picasa too and google+ may be on the cards.

Whilst I can't say I "trust" google with my data, I obviously trust them enough to actually use it as the benefits outweigh the privacy concerns at the moment. However, one area I prefer google to some other services like facebook, is that it doesn't feel like you're constantly having to keep up on the latest feature and opting out to keep the general public from accessing your data. I agree about the "don't be evil" mantra though, it seems it's taking a back seat to the new "don't lose advertising revenue".

I don't mind to an extent google analysing and logging info for targeted advertising since it's the reason the service I use is free/cheap. However, I wish they'd change their retention policy and delete or truly anonymise their data after a more reasonable length of time. The privacy/advertising balance is too one sided towards advertisers at the moment.

[Serpentine]

Oh boy, another 'cloud'... in the 'cloud'...

Any minute now, someone will care!

[morriss003]

Except for storage, clouds are not particularly useful unless they can be used as a direct drive for an app. I understand that Microsoft Word 10 can do a file>open on the Microsoft cloud, and this is the only reason that I would use the Microsoft cloud. I use Google Docs, from time to time, but these would be more useful if they synced to a Google Doc app on my computer, so that I could work when I'm not connected to the net.
In a perfect internet world, there would be a series of satellites that carried Googlestar and Microsoftstar. These would always connect to my computer and allow me to work and surf even in remote locations. I would not mind accepting ads to have this service.

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by morriss003

Except for storage, clouds are not particularly useful unless they can be used as a direct drive for an app. I understand that Microsoft Word 10 can do a file>open on the Microsoft cloud, and this is the only reason that I would use the Microsoft cloud. I use Google Docs, from time to time, but these would be more useful if they synced to a Google Doc app on my computer, so that I could work when I'm not connected to the net.
In a perfect internet world, there would be a series of satellites that carried Googlestar and Microsoftstar. These would always connect to my computer and allow me to work and surf even in remote locations. I would not mind accepting ads to have this service.

You could always use cellular internet on your laptop (through something like the Mifi) to get exactly what you describe, or just use Dropbox or a similar service to have your files available locally when you don't have internet and then synced when you do. My Dropbox folder is just another folder on my PC, so viewable by anything on my pc, whether or not I have internet.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Rob Lister

My bad, though it is almost a distinction without a difference; not very useful (Having to break files up in 25m chucks is like...floppy disks!)

How old are you? Back when Gmail was first offered (the Earth having just cooled), the total amount of all e-mail you could have with hotmail/yahoo, etc. was 25 MB. After your account reached that level, you had no more e-mail service unless you deleted old e-mail (or paid a yearly subscription fee for more storage).

Then GMail came along and offered 1GB - which was 40x as much as the competition. This made it much more practicable to use GMail as a primary e-mail service.

And floppy disks held 1.4 MB.

Now get out of my yard!

[sakura-panda]

I like that with iCloud, I can back up my on-device app purchases without having to actually take the time to connect my tablet to my computer. When I got my new iPad, I was able to set it up and download my apps without the computer simply by connecting to iCloud. I used to almost never back up my apps because the tablet had to be plugged in to do that. Now it does it automatically.

I'm not one to use cloud for actual storage, but I do like having it for my devices to interact with each other. Considering the number of Samsung devices that I have, I'm very interested to learn more about the Samsung cloud. (Not so much about the Google cloud as nearly all of my Google/Android devices happen to be Samsung products.)

[wodin]

I've seen many pros and cons here, some legitimate and others not so much, so to pump a little more heavy crude on the fire; I have a personal cloud, it sits in my coms closet right next to my router, and functions as both a Network Attached Storage device and is accessible from any web attached computer and from my Android tablet and cell phone.

It’s got a terabyte drive, and is expandable if I ever fill it up, which is unimaginable to me now. But then I didn’t think I’d ever need more than my first 20 MB hard drive either.

I also use DropBox, but only for not so private or critical stuff, and only because it has a much better UI than my own cloud. Oh yeah, I also use Microsoft Office 365 as my hosted Exchange/SharePoint server with my private domain for email. It’s not free, but it’s got the best price in town for hosted Exchange service.

[tubemonkey]

New and Improved SkyDrive Is a Threat to Dropbox

Microsoft is shaking things up with SkyDrive. The new features and capabilities move it out of the Microsoft-centric shadows and pit it more directly against Dropbox, and possibly the imminently rumored Google Drive. However, Microsoft also announced a change to SkyDrive that many won’t appreciate.

The big news is that Microsoft has done away with the convoluted Live Mesh system, and adopted a more streamlined syncing system very similar to Dropbox. Microsoft has an app for Windows and for Mac OS X that integrates SkyDrive with the local OS. Files can be stored in the SkyDrive folder, and they will be automatically uploaded to the cloud, and synced to other computers or devices.

[koland]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

But, I'm still a bit wary of cloud storage for serious stuff. I use dropbox for some ebooks, picture sharing, and the occasional work file I need to pick up at home and on my phone... But, past that, I try not to use it a whole lot. And, when I do, I make sure I've got local copies of it on at LEAST 2 different machines.

And make sure those copies are NOT the sync'd copies, as they'll sync to deleted on all machines, if deleted in one place.

cloud is great for secondary backup and sharing between devices, but mostly not good for permanent storage. Look at Box - works great on the Kindle, but I can't get anything into it from my desktop (the work-around to see it as a drive is too cluncky and it keeps disconnecting long before files get copied to it, unlike dropbox). So, I have lots of storage, but keep about three files there.

I keep more on dropbox (but can run into an issue if you have multiple accounts and use sycn'd folders, running out of space early).

But, for real backup, I have: hard drive, SD card (and often a CD or DVD, as well). Plus multiple computers....

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by koland

And make sure those copies are NOT the sync'd copies, as they'll sync to deleted on all machines, if deleted in one place

Not as big a problem as you might think - Dropbox allows you to restore deleted files or revert to older versions of files.

[taustin]

Originally Posted by MV64

Clouds help, especially if you're a businessperson I guess,

No, for a business person, clouds are a seductive evil, and a very bad idea. Aside from issues of reliability, and company stability, and government seizures, if it's not on your hardware, it's not your data. It is irresponsible for any company to put its proprietary data on to someone else's server.