Nicholas Carr's vision of cloud computing
- February 1, 2008 11:23 AM |
- By Ian Johnson
By Nora Young, host of CBC radio's Spark
"Cloud computing" is a buzz term in tech circles these days. It refers to the move from computing as something that happens on the hard drive of your computer - with software you've loaded onto it - to computing done remotely on a grid of computers, with software accessed online.
You're likely already using 'the cloud' if you use web-based e-mail, or have a profile on a social networking site. Imagine a future where all your data - not just your Facebook profile - lives online.
In his new book, The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google, Nicholas Carr looks ahead to the seismic shifts this move to cloud computing may bring with it, raising questions about security, privacy, and economics.
I interviewed Nicholas Carr for the February 13th & 16th editions of my show, Spark. You can hear the full, unedited version of our conversation here.
About the Authors
- Tara Kimura
is a multimedia producer for CBCNews.ca.
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Comments (4)
A little too uncomforatble for me. Especially since I keep passwords, usernames, resumes, personal notes and the such. I mean chances are the servers and the accessibiliy from computer to computer would be safe, but you got to wonder; what kind of people are monitoring these things and what will they try and pull? What maount of information would they see on the run of a day? Would the exploit the personal information? Sorry,but I think it's a bad idea. The computer is something you could leave PW, usernames, and personal information on it. Doing this would make computing 'less personal'.
It should not that much different for most users than it is currently. I'm not doing anything illegal online - as long as it's reliable and has no other downsides, I could care less and would be all for it.
Sounds good to me. I don't care if anyone sees what I'm looking at. BRING ON THE MOBILE PORN.
Is this really news? Did anyone not know this would eventually happen? It's the obvious progression of the internet and there's nothing wrong with it.
There might be some minor issues early on but overall I like the idea of my computer knowing me just as well as I know myself. Having advertisements just for me I don't think is a bad thing. I think it could work very well.
It'll be as secure as you need it to be. And it's about time for the desktop to die. The PC should be as simple as a screen, keyboard and mouse. Nothing else. Everything should be downloadable and accessable from the net (without wires).