Comments on: 5 Reasons why YOU should be moving to the cloud

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

1. If you lose your internet connection, you can’t get to your data to work on it.

2. Would you back up the online data to protect against the possibility of something going wrong in their shop, and your data being lost? It may be less likely (even a lot less) than losing the data on your personal computer, but it’s not impossible.

3. If they go out of business, will you have an opportunity to recover your online data?

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Good points, and I addressed them all in the article. As to losing an Internet connection…not very likely in today’s connected world, and I pointed out that cloud computing is more for home users than business users with critical applications. And for backing up, yes, if you do have critical information it should always be backed up no matter where the data lives.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Couple of practical examples using Google Docs:

1. Sharing. With older family memebers in one state and siblings in three different states, a list of contacts, doctors, helpers, lawyers, real estate agents, relatives and friend online lets any of us add to the list when something new comes up, we all share, and I can access it anywhere — home, work, Starbucks, whatever. In emergencies especially, it really helps.

2 Note taking. I will sometimes have a review of a book I am reading, or I am preparing a presentation. Keeping my notes in the cloud instead of locally means wherever I am, I can open up and add to my notes. Especially helpful if I think of something at work.

3. Butt saving. Last time I had to do a presentation at my user group, my laptop would not connect to the projector. Used another computer and just used my notes online. (That same meeting, 2 other presenters were using Google docs.)

Way better than synching or using thumb drives. And I am almost never using a computer where I don’t have a connection.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Thanks for sharing your personal experience with Google Docs. Sounds like the cloud indeed helped you out!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Is there a “Cloud” program which could replace Quicken?

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

Yes, and it’s made by Quicken at Quicken.com. Also, many quicken users have migrated to other services like wesabe.com and mint.com as well.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 17:00:00 +0000

I suggest you read this article from the Sunday New York Times. Using the cloud for sending notes to your grandma is fine. Using it for banking and other sensitive areas is asking to join the list of victims. If you think Apple and Ubuntu, etc don’t have attackable weaknesses, you are misinformed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/technology/internet/06security.html?_r=1&ref=business&pagewanted=all