May iCloud turn out to be about buffering, more than about storage?
I've been wondering about what role iCloud will play in enabling mobile devices to manage what content they need at hand and what needs to be stored elsewhere.
The comparison with the relation between RAM and harddrive came to mind and I thought: maybe in the future cloud storage will be cheaper, so most content will be stored in the cloud, while devices will keep only the most often used files.
I think this is what most people still think. It's also what Apple tells us: iCloud is the mothership and the Mac (or PC) will be just be a device.
But take a look at Photostream. The main storage place is not in the cloud, but on iPhoto (Mac) or the Pictures folder (PC). Here, iCloud is rather a memory bus, than memory.
But then, how will people manage their photos if iOS devices are the first devices they own, like it is said to be quite common in China and India?
Would they just need to buy Time Capsule like hardware?
How would Logic and Final Cut handle files in such an ecosystem?
And software from Adobe, Microsoft and so many 3rd party audio software developers?
The comparison with the relation between RAM and harddrive came to mind and I thought: maybe in the future cloud storage will be cheaper, so most content will be stored in the cloud, while devices will keep only the most often used files.
I think this is what most people still think. It's also what Apple tells us: iCloud is the mothership and the Mac (or PC) will be just be a device.
But take a look at Photostream. The main storage place is not in the cloud, but on iPhoto (Mac) or the Pictures folder (PC). Here, iCloud is rather a memory bus, than memory.
But then, how will people manage their photos if iOS devices are the first devices they own, like it is said to be quite common in China and India?
Would they just need to buy Time Capsule like hardware?
How would Logic and Final Cut handle files in such an ecosystem?
And software from Adobe, Microsoft and so many 3rd party audio software developers?
Comments
After that you will be downloading individual files and applications everytime you need to use them. And re-uploading those files when you're done with 'm. But you won't be the only one doing that! Millions of other users will be doing that too! Every day! All day long!
So (i)Cloud computing will heavily tax the internet's capacity to move data. Consequently I expect (i)Cloud computing to seriously slow down my computing/internet experience. That's unacceptable to me. So I don't plan on using iCloud (which I already had decided to not do because I refuse to pay for the 'privilege' of accessing my own data; not to mention that unwelcome third parties, unbeknownst to me, could then also access my data, and/or lock me out of my own data).
Using iCloud means that you will be uploading all your data to it.
No, you won't be storing all your data in iCloud. There's not enough room. Take yourself, how will you squeeze 180GB of data into 5GB. Nor are you alone, Apple doesn't sell any iOS device with as little as 5GB. I am interested in seeing how 100+ GB Macs/PCs will sync with 16/32/64 GB iPads/iPhones/iPods when only 5 gigs can be in the cloud.