Cloud computing- the future?
A lot of talk goes on about whether the desktop PC as we know it is doomed to be replaced by the “cloud”. There’s a lot of money riding on how this develops. Some even say that something like Google’s Chrome operating system may break Microsoft’s effective monopoly.
Just where cloud computing may or may not go is of sufficient general interest that even the Op-Ed page of the New York Times is covering the story. Monday, a piece appeared called Lost in the Cloud. Harvard law professor Jonathan Zittrain is skeptical about the cloud. He worries about privacy and security. He also says that innovation may be affected. He is afraid that the Internet providers, social sites, and others may try to control content.
I think there are very good reasons to be concerned about privacy and security but I am not so sure about Zittrain’s conclusion that cloud computing will be less innovative. I think that progress in desktop computing is subject to roadblocks of its own, such as the Wintel hegemony. Controlling content on the wild, wild Web may not be as easy as he fears.
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